It may be the next best thing to a visit from home for 300 Hawaii inmates in Texas.Beginning April 6, 203 inmates at Newton County Correctional Center and 97 others at the Dickens facility will have the opportunity to periodically see and hear from loved ones in Hawaii through a video-telephone hookup.
The 10-minute calls are free, Department of Public Safety spokesman Gregg Takayama said.
"Under the state's contract, (the Texas facilities) provide 50 hours of free phone time a month for inmates," Takayama said. "We just need to encourage family members to make reservations."
The state recently received two AT&T VideoPhone 2500 models, which allow users to see each other during a conversation.
"We've received good feedback about it from the state of Virginia (which sent 600 inmates to Texas)," said Deanna Espina of the Public Safety Department's Library Services branch, who is setting up the Hawaii-Texas hookup.
Since the state is working with only two VideoPhones, each Saturday session will be for four hours.
The Newton County line will be set up at Halawa Heights Baptist Church, 99-611 Ulune St., Aiea, from 1 to 5 p.m.
Calls to Dickens will be handled at Olivet Baptist Church, 1775 S. Beretania St., from 2 to 6 p.m.
Sixteen hookups can be accommodated per four-hour session at each site.
To reserve a time and date, families should call the Halawa prison chapel at 484-7308 Mondays to Thursdays between 8 a.m. and noon.
Based on the number of inmates, Takayama estimates that individual families will be able to take advantage of the free calls once every two or three months.
Prison Chaplain John Vaughn said the sites won't change but that different church groups will provide refreshments and counseling help, if needed, to families after the VideoPhone sessions.
"It's a chance for us to show families we care," Vaughn said. "And it allows us to build a relationship with them.
"The VideoPhone gives meaning to the words because they'll be able to see a face," he added.
"One family from Kauai is willing to fly in for this. It means a lot to the families."
The state is working to get three more VideoPhones so Kauai, Maui and the Big Island can also be hooked up, Espina said.