The Video Visitation Program started in November 2002 between Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women (Clinton, New Jersey) and New Community Corporation's community-based program Harmony House (Newark, New Jersey). This program is designed to connect female offenders and their children who (for reasons of travel, transportation or distance) would otherwise be unable to have regularly scheduled visits. This program hopes to bring about change in the lives of women and their children to keep intact family structure via technology. To this end, the current joint venture is a natural progression for the Video Teleconferencing Program in expanding services to inmates while maintaining security for the general public.

BENEFITS

• Enable children and female offenders to connect via videoconferencing at an easier access videoconferencing site for family members in downtown Newark.
• Cost-effective alternative to in-person visits for the Department and the offender's family.
• Initiate family responsibility in female offenders and maintain the bond between mother and child.

APPOINTMENTS/VISITS

• All appointments for video visits can be made through the Correctional Facility's contact person.
• Proper identification must be presented at community site at scheduled appointment time.
• Any appointment cancellations must be reported to community site contact person.
• Visits will primarily focus on parent and child/legal guardian communication.
• Video visitors must have the approval of the Correctional Facility.

PARTNERSHIP

Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women
P.O. Box 4004
Clinton, NJ, 08809-4004
Contact: Helen Adams
(908) 735-7111

New Community Corporation / Harmony House
278-282 South Orange Avenue
Newark, NJ, 07103
Contact: Diane Young
973-623-8555
www.newcommunity.org

GOALS

The Video Visitation Program sets out to respond to a growing need within the Department of Corrections. We want to ensure the widest possible access between inmates and their children in order to reduce recidivism, maintain family structure and promote responsibility within our incarcerated population. All of us can benefit from video visitations - as citizens, as parents, as workers, as students, and as taxpayers. Above all, the Department of Corrections would like to safeguard the interests of parents, children and citizens.