35 states of America have the death penalty, and 34 of them allow face-to-face visits for inmates on death row. Kansas is the cruel exception, forcing inmates to conduct their visits with family, other loved ones, etc via video conference. Now Virginia plans to join them.
The state correction officials favour the policy because it's apparently less intrusive on the visitors, as well as being less labor-intensive on staff (ie. they only have to press a button). They also say it could lead to expanded visitation opportunities. Sounds pretty limited to me - you can't kiss your wife or hold your child's hand through a TV screen. The relatives of inmates on Virginia's death row are calling it a cruel and unnecessary policy. I agree entirely.
Apart from Kansas, as of right now all other death penalty states allow face to face visits. Some states allow contact visits (ie you're allowed to touch), but most have a sheet of glass between inmates and visitors. Ohio has glass but also has a slot to allow inmates and visitors to hold hands.
If you've ever seen something in person and then seen it on film, you might know what I'm talking about when I say that you really lose something when you put a thing on film. In my opinion, this is just cruel. If I was forced to spend 23 hours a day cooped up in a small box, I would spend every waking moment savoring the thought of seeing my loved ones in the flesh, even if it was through a sheet of reinforced glass.
As of September 1st, Virginia's death row population will sadly not have this 'luxury'.
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The taking of a life has become so clinical, so detached that it's sickening. They're devising more and more ways to take away the humanity in the process, because it's more difficult to kill a human than it is to kill a monster. The prison staff don't WANT to watch a man weep as he says he tells his wife he loves her through a sheet of glass because they'll just have to think about that when they kill him, and it'll make it so much harder for them. This is just a cruel way of dehumanising the inmates a little bit more, and in the process it's taking away the one thing they have to look forward to!
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