Pinellas jail visitor arrested after visitation gets too explicit

[Tony_FLADEM]

LARGO — When video visitation with Pinellas County Jail inmates was launched in the late 1990s, some loved ones of the incarcerated complained that conversations conducted via a closed-circuit television screen lacked the intimacy of a face-to-face encounter.

St. Petersburg resident Mitchell Thomas made an apparent effort to breach the technological divide when he visited his wife at the jail Tuesday. But as Thomas promptly learned, the county's video visitation center is no place to go looking for love.

Thomas, 46, was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of exposing his sexual organs after he bared himself to the monitor-image of his wife at about 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.


http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/pinellas-jail-visitor-arrested-after-visitation-gets-too-explicit/1228024

[1monster]

1. Video visitation is evil and cuts off those accused, not convicted of crimes and those

convicted of minor crimes from any real contact with families and loved ones. Some sit in jail for two and three years as their cases wend their unwieldy way through the court system.

One of the most important indicators of a better future, once their cases are dsiposed of, is contact with family and friends. I believe that this video visitation, so convenient for the county jail staffs, will prove to be a BIG mistake.

[bluestate10]

2. I favor conjugal visits, as long as the imprisoned has no history of abusing the visiting

mate and protection is used.

[obamanut2012]

3. You give up some things when you get convicted of a felony

And, sex with your significant other should definitely be one of them.

[petronius]

5. Why should it be, in particular? It seems like an accommodation that can

be made safely and cheaply, sex is often an important part of a healthy relationship, and family ties are important in helping a released inmate reintegrate. Not to mention the well-being of the non-incarcerated partner, and the morale of the prisoner.

I wouldn't say that prisons are obligated to provide such visits, but there are benefits to doing so and I don't see any reason why that specifically should be excluded (especially if it's just because prison is supposed to suck, and no sex makes it more punish-y)...

[provis99]

6. any reason for that other than the joy of sheer cruelty?

[markpkessinger]

8. OK, but would you accept ...

... allowing convicts to have sex with insignificant others? Just asking.

[onethatcares]

4. when I was doing time, I fell in love

with my left hand and vowed never to leave it, if at all humanly possible.

[anti-alec]

7. Done time too, didn't fall in love with my own hand.. still married though.