JPAY DECIDES VIDEO VISITATION IN IDAHO PRISONS IS NOT VIABLE - LEAVING PRISONERS IN THE DARK AGES OF COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY
According to a CenturyLink representative, JPay has decided not to implement video visitation throughout the IDOC, not because of any technology, bandwidth or other insufficiencies, but because the price that would be charged per 30 minute contact would be prohibitive. In a January 2019 conversation, Kris Coleman of CenturyLink stated that while the testing of the video visitation (what civilians know as face timing, Skyping or a video call) in a limited number of IDOC facilities was successful, JPay has decided that the cost of $6 per visit would prohibit the volume of such calls to make the venture viable for the company. Previously, JPay, through CenturyLink had stated that bandwidth at most facilities was insufficient for video calls. "Bandwidth isn't a problem at all," said Coleman, "there is more bandwidth available than we could possibly use." With 30 minute inmate telephone calls in Idaho costing between $3.57 and $25 depending on how and to where the ca