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In the novel 1984, George Orwell imagines a technology called a “viewscreen” which not only lets you watch TV but lets a surveillance state watch you. This omni-present panopticon helped “big brother” keep the citizens paranoid and under control. Now, thanks to the work of the notorious prison telephony company Securus, this nightmare can be a reality for millions of prisoners in the United States.
Video visitation devices are a core business of Securus, allowing people in prison to talk to their friends, family, and attorneys over video chat services. While video visitation can be one of several appropriate forms of inmate communications, prisons have used this new service to limit in-person visitation hours or even cut them entirely. Also, these devices often provide low quality video chat at excessive prices–often reaching hours of inmate labor per minute of chat.
Worst of all, they now can record audio and video of imprisoned people surreptitiously, with no outward indicator. When the call is over, it can also perform biometric identification on the inmate or anyone the inmate was talking to. Although the friends and family of imprisoned people are often subjected to facial recognition when visiting a prison in person, this represents an even more intense level of surveillance by inviting it into the home of a visitor who is having a video visit with an inmate.
Securus has also patented a The Catalog of Carceral Surveillance: Overt and Covert Surveillance of Prisoners Via Telephones and Tablets