Another award-winning program that we offer throughout NSW – with national capabilities – is video conferencing, known to our clients as Video Visits.

Are you unable to have visits with a family member who is in prison because you live too far away? Does it cost too much? Are family members too sick to travel? Is it just too hard for family to get to the correctional centre? Then you might be able to have a Video Visit.

Video Visits is a video conferencing program run by SHINE for kids in conjunction with the Department of Corrective Services. Video conferencing is a new way to stay in touch with a family member who is in prison. Video Visits allow inmates and their families and children to see each other on a television screen while talking. The equipment includes a camera, microphone and speakers together with a TV monitor, so that you can see and hear your family member who is housed in a correctional centre. As many as four adults, plus any number of children, can participate in the one video visit.

Currently video visits are available through the following Correctional Centres:

• Bathurst
• Broken Hill
• Cessnock
• Dillwynia
• Goulburn
• Grafton
• Junee
• Lithgow
• Long Bay Hospital
• Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre
• Mulawa
• Mid North Coast
• Parklea
• Parramatta

Inmates can apply for a video visit by filling out an application form from the Correctional Centre in which they are currently housed. Their application is then assessed and, if approved, is passed onto the Video Conferencing Coordinator at the SHINE for Kids, Central West office. We will then contact the families and organise a video conferencing site for the families to attend which is close to where they live.

Family members can apply for a video conference by contacting SHINE for Kids. If you are interested in having a Video Visit or want to know more about the program, contact the SHINE for Kids, Silverwater on (02) 9714 3000 or fax (02) 9714 3030.