Enlarge / Kiosks from GTL, a leading video-visitation provider. (credit: GTL)

After April 15, inmates at the Adult Detention Center in Lowndes County, Mississippi will no longer be allowed to visit with family members face-to-face. Newton County, Missouri, implemented an in-person visitor ban last month. The Allen County Jail in Indiana phased out in-person visits earlier this year.

All three changes are part of a nationwide trend toward “video visitation” services. Instead of seeing their loved ones face to face, inmates are increasingly limited to talking to them through video terminals.

Even some advocates of the change admit that it has downsides for inmates and their families. Ryan Rickert, jail administrator at the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center, acknowledged to the The Commercial Dispatch that inmates were disappointed they wouldn’t get to see family members any more. But advocates of this approach point to an upside for families: they can now make video calls to loved ones from home, instead of having to physically travel to the jail.