Video conference makes hearings safer, easier
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – People arrested in Allen County can now go to their initial hearing in court without ever leaving the jail. A new CourtCall video conference system was recently installed and used for the first time Thursday.
“I sat in a couple of seats in the back row, and you could clearly see the inmate on the monitor and clearly hear him and see the judge as well because it’s a split screen,” Judge Fran Gull, Administrative Judge of the Allen Superior Court Criminal Division said.
Three computers with web cameras were installed in Allen Superior Court 3, and a fourth computer and webcam were installed in a room in the jail. Gull and Allen County Sheriff David Gladieux said the video conferencing is safer for the inmates, officers and public.
“The less you have to move inmates the better,” Gladieux said. “The less chance you have of something happening and them escaping or trying something stupid.”
On average, about a dozen inmates have an initial hearing every day.
In the past, they would be driven to the old jail and then walked over to the courthouse through a tunnel system. Now, they go to a holding cell inside the jail and then walk across the hall to a video conference room.
Thursday morning, eight inmates had initial hearings. Gladieux said normally he would have had his transportation guys tied up for about an hour and a half, but with the new video system the inmates were back in their cells in about 20 minutes.
“It’s just a matter of a few steps down the hall to a holding cell, so it’s pretty quick,” he said.
Right now, Indiana court rules only allow the video conferencing system to be used for initial hearings, which are mostly procedural.
“We’re setting the bond, reading initial charges, appointing council, setting omnibus dates and trial dates,” Gull said. “We could also do a pretrial conference by video if all the parties agree to it.”
Gull said if the video system continues to go well, she may go to the Indiana Supreme Court and ask for an amendment to the court rules to allow video conferencing for other hearings.
While the inmate might not be physically sitting in the courtroom, he or she can still ask questions as if they were.
“There was a lot of dialogue [Thursday morning] between Magistrate Kearns and one of the defendants about the charges,” Gull said.
The sheriff’s department paid for CourtCall to be installed and will pay the $400 per month managing fees from the jail’s commissary fund.
“It’s profit we make off the inmates, and I think it makes sense to use the profit we make off of them to get them to court,” Gladieux said.
The department also expects to save some money in transportation costs.
“Even though it’s a short jaunt to the courthouse, it is a jaunt and they have to be brought in through the tunnel and brought upstairs. It’s a good savings for the sheriff,” Gull said.
Gladieux didn’t have an estimate of how much his department would save, but said the safety of his officers and the public is the main reason he wanted the new video system.
“I think this will help drastically with movement of inmates and that’s our number one goal,” he said. “Security is number one and then savings in gas and time. Time is money. This will free up my transport guys to transport inmates who have to be transported to other places outside the jail like for medical issues or doctors appointments.”