Staying connected with a loved one in prison is becoming increasingly digital — and for many families, increasingly difficult. For many, the digital divide can be as isolating as prison walls.
Video calls now dominate post-pandemic communication, in-person visits now increasingly require scheduling through websites and apps, and the increasing use of tablets in prisons only indicates a further shift toward a more digital environment. While these changes offer new opportunities for connection, they also risk leaving behind families who lack access to technology or the skills to navigate it.
“It's really easy to forget that there's a segment of the population that does not have access and did not grow up with [digital technology], and this is an often overlooked population,” said Kirstin Cornnell, director of family and community support at the Prison Society.
The shift to video calls from visits
During the COVID-19 pandemic, video and phone calls became the only mode of connection for incarcerated people and their loved ones. Since then, many prisons around the country have expanded video calls while greatly reducing in-person visits, some facilities eliminating them altogether.
In Pennsylvania, the Department of Corrections requires all video calls and in-person visits to be scheduled through the Inmate Visitor Visitation System (IVVS), an online platform implemented in 2020 that requires registration with an email address. Visits and video calls must be scheduled three days in advance, and in-person visits are limited to specific time slots.
Before this system, visitors could drop in during visitation hours, making it easier for people with unpredictable schedules to connect with loved ones.
The impact of this shift is clear. In 2025, video calls accounted for nearly ten times the number of in-person visits in Pennsylvania facilities, which were less than half the number recorded in 2019, before the pandemic.
Helping families navigate technology
While IVVS is straightforward for people familiar with the internet, it can be challenging for those who aren’t tech-savvy. Michael McKee, manager of the Prison Society’s helpline, explained that many callers are older adults who didn’t grow up with digital technology and may have never had an email address.
“Prior to COVID, these systems were a lot more optional, or there were other ways around some of these [digital] systems,” said McKee. “Now you're really locked out in so many ways if you're not proficient and comfortable with some of the basic email and internet systems that some of us might take for granted.”
Since the start of 2026, the Prison Society’s helpline has received more than 100 inquiries from individuals seeking assistance with online scheduling and video calls in Pennsylvania state and county prisons. Some visitors even come to the Society’s Philadelphia offices for in-person tech support.
Theresa, who we featured in January, comes in several times a month to get help setting up video calls with her son Raheem, who is incarcerated across the state.
“I’m no good on that internet stuff. It’s their equipment in their conference room. I don’t know what you have to press to do this and do that,” said Theresa.
Who gets left behind?
While age is often a factor, McKee said occasionally people lack experience with or access to technology due to their cultural identity, religious beliefs, or where they live. In Pennsylvania, more than 150,000 residents still don’t have access to high-speed internet.
McKee also noted that the same groups overrepresented in the prison system are disproportionately affected by this digital divide. Black households, for example, are about 10% less likely than white households to subscribe to broadband. At the same time, nearly half of Pennsylvania’s prison population is Black — despite Black residents making up just 11% of the state’s overall population.
Economic disparities further compound the issue. People from low-income backgrounds are overrepresented in prisons, and households earning less than $30,000 annually are nearly half as likely to have broadband access as those earning over $100,000.
“There are situational factors, but there are also structural factors that are driving what we're looking at,” said McKee.
Bridging this digital divide is essential for keeping families connected. The Pennsylvania Prison Society continues to provide support while working to close the gap so that no one is locked out of these vital connections.
Need Assistance Setting Up An IVVS Account?
We developed a step-by-step video to help families set up an Inmate Visitor Visitation System (IVVS) account to stay connected with loved ones in Pennsylvania state prisons.
