Thursday, September 29, 2011
YOUNGSTOWN
The Mahoning County Sheriff’s Department has implemented a small piece of technology that will ease the paperwork burden on deputies and make life easier for the loved ones of those housed in the jail.
On any given day, the lobby in the Mahoning County Justice Center is filled with people hoping to visit people in the jail, obtaining information or leaving money for an incarcerated loved one to use at the jail commissary. All those services are handled by one deputy at the public-access window.
Major Mike Fonda said a small kiosk in the lobby of the justice center has gone a long way to alleviating some of the congestion.
The machine, which looks like a standalone ATM, is situated in a corner of the lobby. Anyone can avoid the public window and come directly to the machine to add money to the account of a person being housed in the county jail.
Fonda said the machine allows deputies to spend time completing other tasks, and is faster and more convenient to the public. He said the department has seen a lot of layoffs and is looking for various ways to streamline services.
“We are stretched so thin with manpower right now, but we have to offer these services and this is a great way to streamline everything,” he said. “This doesn’t cost us any money and it drastically cuts down on traffic at one time in the building.”
The kiosk machine is supplied by Canteen Services of Steel Valley, the same company that handles commissary services at the jail. The company charges a fee to use the service.
Fonda said the idea to install the machine was born from a previous idea to install a bank ATM in the lobby. The idea to install the ATM did not come to fruition.
“We were looking to put a bank ATM in the lobby, but we didn’t know how it would integrate into our existing system. This [kiosk] became available as new technology and they asked if we would be interested,” he said.
Anyone needing to add money to the account of an inmate in the jail can come into the lobby and use cash or a credit card to leave the inmate money.
The system can also be accessed from home via the sheriff’s department website.
Fonda said the commissary system is very important to inmates who use the money to buy food not provided by the jail.
The money can also be used to buy vitamins or pay court fines.
“When you are incarcerated, you get your three meals, but people always want more. That becomes even more critical here because you are always limited on what you can have,” he said. “People often sign a form allowing those funds to be applied toward court cost and fines.”
Inmates in the jail fill out a form every Monday and Wednesday ordering items from the commissary.
The company delivers the items the next day and deputies distribute the purchased items to individual cells.