To: Governor Gavin Newsom
Gov. Brown: Protect in-person visitation in jails
We urge you to sign Senate Bill 1157 (Mitchell)- Strengthening Family Connections: In-Person Visitation. This bill ensures that people in jail and their families will have access to in-person visitation. Research has shown that in-person visits strengthen family connections and reduce recidivism, increase the chances of securing employment post-release, and facilitate successful reentry.
Why is this important?
Increasingly, county jails are replacing in-person visitation with video visitation. At least eighteen counties in California have eliminated, plan to eliminate, or severely restrict in-person visitation in at least one of their jails.
SB 1157 would require facilities that elect to use video visitation to also provide in-person visitation and would require that facilities that do not offer any in-person visitation to offer in-person visitation by January 1, 2022.
Being able to have an in-person visit with their loved one who is incarcerated is crucial for family members, many of them children. Please ask Gov. Brown to sign this important bill.
SB 1157 would require facilities that elect to use video visitation to also provide in-person visitation and would require that facilities that do not offer any in-person visitation to offer in-person visitation by January 1, 2022.
Being able to have an in-person visit with their loved one who is incarcerated is crucial for family members, many of them children. Please ask Gov. Brown to sign this important bill.