| Since 1997, the SC Board of Parole and Pardons has conducted its hearings via real-time high speed phone lines. Board members, who come to SCDPPPS' Central Office in Columbia, are able to see inmates present their testimony from seven different prisons. (Inmates at prisons that don't have teleconferencing equipment are transported to nearby prisons that do.) Victims currently are able come to Columbia and present their testimony to the Parole Board. Victims may also attend parole hearings by remote videoconferencing at the Charleston and Spartanburg Remote Videoconferencing Sites.
This arrangement saves the Department of Corrections significant amounts of money in transportation costs and security. In addition, victims are not physically in the same location as the inmate who victimized them.
SCDPPPS provides staff at the prisons, the Central Office, the Charleston and the Spartanburg Remote Videoconferencing Sites to ensure the smooth operation of the hearings. |
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