DALLAS, TX January 4, 2018/Business Wire/ — Securus Technologies, a leading provider of civil and criminal justice technology solutions for public safety, investigation, corrections and monitoring, announces the industry’s first fully integrated Video Relay Service (VRS) offering.
Traditionally, deaf and hard-of-hearing Incarcerated Individuals are provided with TTY/TDD devices, which require Incarcerated Individuals to be able to type in the spoken language. These devices do not accommodate Incarcerated Individuals needing to communicate using American Sign Language (ASL), which has become essential for most correctional institutions across the country.
Basic Video Relay Service allows Incarcerated Individuals that are fluent in ASL to connect to an interpreter or directly to the called party and communicate using sign language. This basic service is available from some providers but agencies lose security controls that are necessary to maintain within the corrections environment.
“Providing equal access of communication services to all Incarcerated Individuals is incredibly important to Securus but we needed to do this in a way that maintains critical call controls”, says Russell Roberts, Vice President of Marketing and Strategy with Securus. “Securus Video Relay Service is integrated with Purple Communications and Securus’ Secure Call Platform that allows controls such as calling schedules, calling restrictions, call recordings, calling velocity, and other features to be enforced. All investigative intelligence is retained and we eliminate the security loophole created by other VRS offerings.”
“Securus continues to ‘connect what matters’ by helping deaf and hard of hearing Incarcerated Individuals communicate with their family members and friends,” said Robert E. (“Bob”) Pickens, Chief Executive Officer of Securus Technologies. “Securus VRS reduces the burden on correctional staff by integrating the service into Securus calling platform, SCP, while making it easier than ever for all Incarcerated Individuals to reach out to their loved ones.”
Securus Video Relay Service is available nationwide.
About Securus Technologies
Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, an Aventiv Technologies company, serving more than 3,450 public safety, law enforcement and corrections agencies and over 1,200,000 incarcerated individuals across North America, Securus Technologies is committed to serve and connect by providing emergency response, incident management, public information, investigation, biometric analysis, communication, information management, incarcerated individual self-service, and monitoring products and services in order to make our world a safer place to live. Securus Technologies connecting what matters®. For more information, please visit SecurusTechnologies.tech.