I have no doubt that there&#x27;s a strong desire to reduce or eliminate in-person visitations and the goal of adding video visitations is one of the ways they&#x27;re trying to do that.<p>I disagree with this for the most part -- elimination, anyway -- I would have less of a problem with reducing visitation frequency provided video visitation was affordable&#x2F;effective and frequent and the end-result didn&#x27;t cause prisoners to be more miserable[1].  And I could see elimination of in-person visitation for the most dangerous&#x2F;high security prisons&#x2F;prisoners (though I&#x27;m fairly certain that&#x27;s eliminated already, so this might serve as an opportunity to allow a form of visitation where visitation wouldn&#x27;t exist).<p>A video call is a much more intimate experience than a phone call[2] and while it doesn&#x27;t <i>replace</i> an in-person visit, there&#x27;s probably a balance there that fits well and meets both goals.  Whether or not the prison system will put the needs of the prisoners into the equation, here, leaves me pretty skeptical.  But I&#x27;m rather cynical about the prison system and tend to fall on the side of &quot;rehabilitation&quot; being a more appropriate goal for handling criminal behavior -- something that is virtually absent from the US Criminal Justice philosophy.<p>[1] The problem being: how do you measure that?<p>[2] My only experience is as a lone developer working on a team that&#x27;s in another country and five time-zones away.  Video calls are a night-and-day improvement HD Audio calls (we&#x27;re a Skype for Business shop).  Seeing facial expressions, being able to look at and feel out &quot;the room&quot;, is hugely important to me.  It&#x27;s been effective enough for me to give presentations to User Groups in other cities.