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Telecom Engineering Consultants, Inc. (TEC)
recently announced the completion
of the Phase III expansion of the Inmate Video Visitation System for the Lee
County Sheriff's Office, in Ft. Meyers, Florida. The expansion is part of
the Lee County Sheriff’s Office ongoing efforts to reduce costs and risks by
centralizing and automating the inmate visitation process. This expansion
project brings the total number of visitor stations to 110 and the total
number of inmate stations to 160 making the Lee County system the largest of
its kind in the world. The expansion project features the Inmate Video
Visitation System developed by VUGate Corporation, the nation’s leading
supplier of video visitation technology. The system also incorporates
fiber-optic communication technologies supplied by TEC to meet the complex
requirements of the Lee County project. TEC’s extensive experience in
structured wiring systems and network integration played a significant role
in the successful implementation and expansion of Lee County’s Inmate Video
Visitation system.
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TEC began the
installation of Phase I of the video visitation system in late 1999 and
completed Phase II less than a year later. Phase II also incorporated
connections to the Lee County Public Defender’s Office providing support for
remote legal consultation. The system from TEC supports the Lee County Core
Jail facility, the Sprung Units, the Stockade and the Downtown Jail
representing more than 1700 beds and handling more than 50,000 inmates per
year.
TEC is VUGate’s
largest Systems Integrator for Video Visitation systems, which feature the
use of campus-based video communications coupled with VUGate’s MINXMate
Automated Visitation Management software. The system is designed to reduce
prisoner and visitor movement through a secure correctional facility and to
improve the utilization of correctional officers’ time. The system
improves the efficiency of the visitation process, virtually eliminates
contraband infiltration, and reduces the risks associated with confrontation
or escape. The system can be easily expanded to support links to any
industry standard videoconferencing systems, including H.320, H.323 and/or
H.324 video protocols, which can be used for additional applications such as
Telemedicine, Distance Learning and Video Arraignment.
Lee County Sheriff's
Office Jail Administrator, Major Mark Levins noted, “The Lee County
Sheriff’s Office is constantly working to improve the safety of officers,
inmates and visitors involved the visitation process while managing the
operation in the most efficient and cost effective manner. The system
installed by Telecom Engineering Consultants has met or exceeded all of our
expectations. Telecom has proven to be an invaluable partner in the
development, implementation and support of our video visitation system. The
installation of Phase I, Phase II and Phase III each provided unique
challenges. Telecom works in close concert with our prime contractor,
Centex Rooney, and Lee County Sheriff’s Office personnel to deliver and
support solutions that meet all of our video communications needs”.
Pat Sellati, Vice
President for Telecom Engineering Consultants stated “The VUGate system is
well suited for the demands of a video visitation system. VUGate’s SuperHub
Video PBX is designed to meet the needs of the Department of Defense and the
National Security Agency, both of which currently use the VUGate system
extensively. This translates into reliable, high-quality, scalable systems
that fit perfectly into the high-traffic volume visitation environment found
in correctional facilities. The system is flexible and extensible,
providing the building blocks to support future expansion with relative
ease. This flexibility allowed TEC to integrate a number of sophisticated
fiber-optic technologies from Sumitomo, Fiber Options, Force and Blonder
Tongue, which allowed TEC to take advantage of available County resources
and to meet the specific requirements of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office”.
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