FREEHOLDER CHRISTOPHER RAFANO
ANNOUNCES SUPERIOR COURT VIDEO CONFERENCING
IN MIDDLESEX COUNTY
MARCH 28, 2001
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Freeholder Christopher D.
Rafano today announced the implementation of video conferencing service between
the Middlesex County Adult Corrections Center in North Brunswick and the
Superior Court Criminal Division located in New Brunswick. Once again,
Middlesex County is at the cutting edge in utilizing state of the art
technology to enhance efficiency to reduce the burden on our property tax
payers,” Rafano said.
Freeholder Rafano added,
“The use of video conferencing technology in criminal courtrooms is an
effective method of improving court efficiency, enhancing the safety of the
public and reducing the taxpayer costs associated with the functioning of the
criminal justice system in Middlesex County.
Video arraignment technology has the support of the Administrative
Office of the Courts, the Judges of the Superior Court, the Middlesex County
Prosecutor, the New Jersey Department of Corrections, the New Jersey Public
Defender’s Office, and the Middlesex County Sheriff.”
“With the cooperation and
help of Warden Michael T. Abode, Presiding Criminal Judge Barnett E. Hoffman
and Assignment Judge Robert Longhi we have put into place a program where
inmates can now be arraigned and have bail motions heard and pre-trial motions
conducted via Video Tele-Conferencing.
Starting today, a Superior Court Judge sitting in his or her courtroom
will be able to process a defendant in a criminal matter without the prisoner
having to be transported from the Adult Correction Facility in North
Brunswick.”
Each time an inmate is
brought from the correction facility to the Superior Court in New Brunswick,
that inmate must be processed for discharge, transported to the courthouse,
guarded in a holding room, transported back to the facility and reprocessed
back into the jail. Additional,
related costs include record keeping and vehicle maintenance. Freeholder Rafano explained that, “The total cost averages about $200.00 per
trip. Last year there were
approximately 1,500 inmate appearances for Pre-Trial Conferences, Arraignments
and Bail Motion Hearings. We are
projecting that since many transports are done in groups, we will eliminate
approximately 500 total trips.
Therefore, the cost savings to our property tax payers will be close to
$100,000.00 per year at today’s prices.”
Rafano continued, “This
program means more than just the cost savings.
Every time an inmate is moved, there is a security risk. The residents of our county will be safer
and the inmates themselves will be more secure by having the courts available
to them without having to leave the correctional facility more than is
absolutely necessary.”
Tele-conferencing will help
to reduce the backlog in the courts.
For example a Judge can do arraignments between trials or as his or her
calendar permits. Warden Michael T.
Abode today expressed his enthusiasm for the newly installed Video
Tele-Conferencing links with the Courts,
“The county has installed special equipment at the Correction Center in
North Brunswick to link with the Superior Court in New Brunswick and any other
authorized Municipal or Superior Court in the State.”
“Each inmate court
appearance that is conducted with the Video Tele-Conferencing equipment eliminates
the need to process the inmate out of the building for transport to court and
then saves the costs of processing the re-admission back into the
institution. This could lead to
substantial savings each year as use of the system grows.”
The Warden also expressed
his satisfaction in being one of the
first three county correctional centers to implement this new cost
savings technology.
The Honorable Barnett E.
Hoffman, Presiding Criminal Judge of the Superior Court, commented on the
program. “It is expected that the other criminal courts will have such video
capabilities soon. The procedure is going to be used for bail hearings and
various status conferences for inmates housed at the county jail as well as
conferences with inmates at the various state institutions. The video system
will result in savings to the Sheriff’s Department and Corrections Department
relating to transportation of prisoners as well as reduce congestion in the
courthouse holding cells.”
“The computer hardware,
software and wiring for the Superior Court and the Adult Corrections Center
were acquired at no cost to Middlesex County as a result of a grant by the
State Department of Corrections.
Middlesex County is one of only three counties in the State of New
Jersey that has implemented Video Tele-Conferencing in their Superior Court,”
Freeholder Rafano said.
Khalid
Anjum, Middlesex County Information Technology Director, described the
equipment being used. “In the Video
Tele-Conferencing set-up, the Court and the Jail are connected with two
separate video systems, allowing the Judge, prosecutor, attorney’s and
detainees to communicate effectively and efficiently over a digital
network. The equipment used includes
color monitors with live split screen capacity, voice activated color camera’s,
an audio/video recording system, secure phones and fax machine for defendant
defense counsel use, and a touch panel that allows the judge to control all
system functions. A digital, 3-line
ISDN BRI interface will provide near TV video quality @ 384 kbps @ 20 – 30
frames per second conforming to H.320 and G.722 of the ITU standards.”