Contact visits will be a thing of the
past at West Virginia
Regional Jail Authority Director Joe
DeLong said a temporary ban put into place earlier this year will be permanent
in a few weeks. He said the privilege was being abused by inmates who used it
to smuggle drugs into the jails.
“We had inmates who would come in with
their loved ones and be able to give an embrace, a hug, and press the Suboxone
strip up against the clothing and with the naked eye you couldn’t see it but
the inmate knew where it was and would go back and remove the Suboxone strip,”
DeLong said.
There were other instances of drugs
being passed in a kiss and some being placed in babies’ diapers.
The Regional Authority will offer
expanded non-contact visitation time to take the place of visitation time.
DeLong said there’s also a plan to allow video visitation from home.
“If they have a computer at home with a
webcam they will actually be able to go on and sign-up and actually not have to
come to the jail,” DeLong said.
The contact visitation areas in the 10
regional jails will be converted into space for new pre-parole programs set to
be offered state inmates being housed in regional jails.
DeLong said in the end it makes since to eliminate the contact
visitation in the interest of rehabilitation and safety.
