GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.—The Mesa County jail has ended face-to-face visits between inmates and family, a change partly due to budget cuts.
Inmates once were able to use one of nine private booths to see their families through a glass divider and talk to them with handsets. Now the jail is limiting inmates to talking by video from near their cell to their family members in the jail’s lobby.
Inmates had to be escorted to the booths for the face-to-face visits. Sheriff Stan Hilkey told the Daily Sentinel ( ) that the new approach puts less demand on the reduced staff at the jail.
Inmates can still meet privately with attorneys and clergy.
Hilkey said the change will become permanent because a remodeling project next year will turn the private booth area into more holding cells.
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Information from: The Daily Sentinel,
