According to data collected by the United States Census Bureau, there were nearly 2.27 million inmates incarcerated in U.S. prisons as of 2011. Depending on the prison, specifics regarding the sentence, and the crime being punished, each prisoner is allowed certain rights and privileged as determined by the court in which he or she was convicted.

The court that handed down the original conviction for which an inmate is serving time also has the authority to modify a conviction if the criminal commits additional misdeeds while incarcerated. For convicted felons with families, prisoner visitation rights are among the most valued of the few privileges incarcerated individuals have.

Again, depending on the type of prison and the specifics about each convictions handed down by the courts at the time of sentencing, prisoner visitation can take place in three primary ways. These include face-to-face visitation, window visitation, and video visitation. Inmate video visitation is also called virtual visitation, and it is made possible via prison video visitation systems.

Since prison video visitation systems take place via a virtual server and computer screen, there are several advantages video visitation offers to prisons. Some key advantages of virtual visitation systems are how easily they can be monitored and controlled.

The state-of-the-art virtual videos can be closely monitored at all time, and entire conversations can be recorded. Furthermore, all visitors can keep a safe distance from prisoners, which will lead to reduced contraband in prison.