maintaining-family-ties

“CCA has been a great partner with us for nearly a decade now. Coffee Correctional Facility and Wheeler Correctional Facility certainly meet the standards of the Georgia Department of Corrections. I particularly appreciate CCA maintaining exemplary accreditation status with both the American Correctional Association and the National Commission on Correctional Healthcare. I look forward to a continued long relationship with them.”


- Commissioner James E. Donald, Georgia Department of Corrections

Benefits of OOSIM | Maintaining Family Ties | Cultural Connections

Maintaining Family Ties

CCA continually works to bridge the gap between inmates housed out of state and their friends and family back home.

The company recognizes that maintaining communication can seem challenging, especially for friends and relatives who want to stay engaged and supportive. CCA fosters communication between inmates and their support networks back home through both traditional and innovative methods.

Out-of-state inmates, like inmates at facilities in their home states, may utilize a range of conventional means of contact and communication. According to facility policy, they may regularly:

  • Make outgoing phone calls
  • Send and receive mail
  • Have face-to-face visits through contact or non-contact visitation, based on the customer agency’s contractual agreement

CCA also uses technology to facilitate communication. Through video conferencing, inmates and their loved ones may stay in touch, with many of the benefits of traditional visitation. With video conferencing, inmates and family may:

  • See and speak to each other in real time
  • Schedule visitation sessions more flexibly
  • Realize cost savings through not paying for travel or long-distance phone calls

Video conferencing also presents operational and security benefits, such as:

  • Less frequent transports of inmates
  • Increased contraband control
  • Flexibility in court appearances, with arraignments and parole hearings, for example, being conducted via teleconference
  • Virtual visits with attorneys, doctors and psychiatrists
  • Remote classroom education programs

Some CCA facilities are also providing another new way for inmates to communicate – video-recorded messages. On a 20-minute-long VCR tape, inmates may record personal messages, which may include simply talking to their loved ones or even reading a book to their child.