Introduction

To improve the access to family visits and decrease the time family members have to wait in front of the prison, a web application has been introduced to facilitate the visitors to visit the prison by reserving a time of their convenience. This system is expected to reduce the overcrowding of visitors coming to the prisons and save their time by allowing them to book a visiting time convenient for them. Visitors can access the web application and enter information about themselves and the inmate, the date and time of the visit, and then come to the prison at that time, having priority and access without delay.

In addition, the new E-Visit system provides video calls as a solution for those family members that cannot travel to the prison. To use this facility, visitors must be registered to the service and obtain a Registration Number. Then, they can enter their registration number and reserve a time and a date to visit the inmate through a video call. This service enables inmates to be visited by their families whenever Physical Visitations are not possible. And also it ensures the safety of both the visitors and the prisoners.

Visit types

Physical Visit (Visiting at a prison in person)

The prevailing method of visiting an Inmate in prison is arriving at the prison in the morning, waiting for their turn to visit the prisoner, and having to prove their identity to prison officials and visiting the inmate. The E-visit application has been introduced to avoid visitors to wait a long time in front of the prison. After accessing the E-visit system, click on the “Booking Physical Visits” button and you will be redirected to the booking page. After entering the relevant information, fill out the form and submit it. Thereafter, a prison officer will confirm the data you entered and approve your visit or reject the request for the visit if the data is incorrect. With the confirmation of the visit request, once you arrive at the prison on the date and time booked and once you have proven your identity, you will be able to visit the inmate without delay.

Please mind that you are not allowed to bring mobile phones into the prison.

Video Visit (Visiting by video call)

When inmates are visited through video technology, visitors do not arrive at the prison, hence prisons find it difficult to confirm the identity of visitors. To avoid this barrier, visitors must inform their identity before applying to the facility of visiting inmates online. For this reason, details of the prisoner and of the visitors who ask for the visit must be registered in the system. For the visitors, it is necessary to upload a copy of the National Identity Card, or any other official identity document. Registration to visit an inmate must be done once only, and then you are given a Registration Number. Thereafter, you can reserve visiting time by using the Registration number. After a prison officer certifies that, you can get a chance to visit the inmate.

Only one member from an inmate’s family is allowed to register on behalf of the inmate, and handing over the Registration number to somebody else is against the regulations of the service. If so, the visiting facility will be suspended for that inmate. When Video visiting, it is compulsory the appearance of the registered person on the video call. However, anyone together with the registered person can join the video call with the consent of the inmate.

For security reasons, the video calls will be surveilled by a prison officer in case any talk threatens security or any unsuitable talk takes place. If so, the video call will be disconnected and the facility of the evisit will be suspended temporarily.

Data Inserting

All data must be entered in the English language. Entering the data with the star (*) mark is compulsory.

• Registration Number

The Registration number is only essential when visiting the inmate online. To obtain the Registration number, you must be registered to the service first. For further information, you can read under “Registration for online visit. The Registration number consists of English letters, strokes and numbers. (for example ABC/M/12345). The number can be obtained only after registering for the service. Only one member from the inmate’s family can register for each. After registering, you can apply for an online visit as long as the inmate is in the prison. If the inmate has been transferred to another prison with no online visit, the inmate is not entitled to that privilege.

• Prison Institution

This data is compulsory. The prison where the inmate is held must be selected. These institutions are separated into gender types: male and female.

• Visiting Date

Visiting date is compulsory. The expected date for the visit must be selected by clicking the relevant date from the calendar dropdown. Sundays are not visiting days. Therefore, Sundays should not be selected.

• Visiting Time

Visiting time is compulsory data. The exact visiting time on the selected day should be selected. Visiting time for one visit is about 15 minutes. Visiting time can be selected from 9.00 A.M. to 12.00 P.M. and 2.00 P.M. to 4.00 P.M. If it is a disabled time, it means that, during that time, the maximum number of visiting rooms at the prison have been allocated. You will have to allocate another available convenient time for visiting.

These times are in Sri Lankan Standard Time (UTC +5.30 - Sri Jayawardanapura Kotte)

• Your Full Name

This is also mandatory data. The full name of the visitor who expects to visit the inmate must be mentioned here.

• Your Address

This is compulsory data. The residential address of the visitor who comes to visit the inmate must be mentioned here. This data is essential when a notice about your visit request is necessary to be informed.

• Your Country

This is compulsory data. The country of the visitor who try to register to the service must be mentioned here.

• Your Relation to the Prisoner

This is compulsory data. The visitor who visits the inmate must mention his/her relationship with the prisoner.

Ex: when the inmate is the husband and if the wife comes to visit the inmate it must be selected “Wife”.

• Your E-Mail

This is not compulsory data. However, it will be convenient if you have entered the data. The email address of the visitor must be mentioned here. Important notices on visit requests, prison notices and your Token Number are sent through email. Please make sure of the accuracy of your e-mail.

• Your Mobile Number

Data is not compulsory. However, it will be convenient if you have entered the telephone number. The telephone number of the visitor must be entered.

Important notices regarding your visit request, Token Number and prison acknowledgements will be sent through SMS.

When entering your telephone number, space in between digits must not be kept. The telephone number must consist of only numbers. If you add a telephone number with a country code, plus sign (+) must be avoided. (For example, 0711234789 & 94711234789 are valid but +94711234789 is not valid).

When entering an IDD number, the country code is compulsory and be assure of accuracy.

• Your Identification Document

Data is compulsory. You must select the mode of identity such as National Identity Card, Travel Passport, Driving License etc. When you visit the inmate, you must bring along the selected identity card with you.

• Your Selected Identification Document Number

This data is mandatory. The number of the selected identity document must be entered. Your identity will be confirmed by checking the identity card that you bring to the prison. If it is difficult to confirm your identity you will be deprived of the chance of pre-booked visit.

• Scanned Copy of the Selected Identity Document

Data is compulsory. You need to upload a scanned copy of the identification document you have selected. Only JPG, PNG and PDF files are accepted. File should be less than 2 MB. Uploaded file/document should be readable and clear enough to identify the content. If your ID has two sides, upload it as a one merged pdf

• Prison Institution of the Inmate

This filed is compulsory. The prison institution that the inmate courently resides in should be entered here.

• Inmate Name

The prisoner name is compulsory and the correct full name must be inserted.

• Inmate Gender

This is compulsory data. The gender of the prisoner must be entered.

• Inmate Number

The number given to the prisoner when admitted to the prison must be entered here. The prisoner number makes it easier to identify the inmate. Also, the prisoner number confirms whether the prisoner is still at the prison or has been transferred to another prison. Hence, if you know the prisoner number, kindly enter it correctly.

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Registration for Video Visits

To register for the evisit service, click on the “Register for Video Visits” button on the home page. After filling out the required data submit the registration form. The relevant prison will review the request and will send you a Registration number. It is required to book video visits. You must keep the registration number safe to prevent unauthorized access to your information. Only one member of an inmate’s family has the opportunity to register online. The Prison assures the privacy of your information entered. If you want to alter or cancel your registration, you can do so by personally sending a request to the prison.

The Token Number

After successfully booking a physical or a video visit, you will be given a Token Number. It will appear in blue at the top left corner of your visit details web page, which will open after successful data entry. If you have entered the correct e-mail or a mobile number while entering data, the token number will be sent to you as an e-mail or a text message.

The token number is used as a password to access your Visit Details Page which views your visit details as well as whether your visit request had been approved or rejected (booking status). When video visiting, you can join the video call by clicking on the video link from the Visit Details Page.

Also, this token number is used to verify your visit request at the prison. Therefore, it is your responsibility to remember and keep the token number safe. Your token number is an eight-digit number with English capital letters and numbers. (For example-5F98EF4).

Please mind that you are not allowed to bring mobile phones into the prison. Therefore, you must remember the token number or should write it down on a piece of paper and bring it to the prison.

Error Message and Notifications

Error messages and notifications of the system appear in red at the top left corner of the screen, and error messages on invalid data you entered appear on top of the data form and below the relevant data input elements. Moreover, successful messages such as “data entry successful” is displayed in green at the top left corner of the screen.

If incorrect data has been entered, the data will not be saved and we will not receive your visit request. Hence, you must pay closer attention to error messages and notifications.

Login into the system to access information

Enter your Token Number into the given form on the home page and click on the ‘Check” button. If your token number is correct and valid, you will be directed to the “Visit Details Page”.

Visit Details Page

You can access the visit details by using the token number given to you. Also, after you successfully send a visit request, you will be redirected to the Visit Details Page.

This Visit Details Page shows the data you entered and the token number. The Booking Status is also available on that page. (For further, information on this please view the Booking Status section).

Messages sent to you are also available at the bottom of the page (under My Messages and Notifications). If you have provided an e-mail address, you might have already got these messages through e-mail.

Also, by clicking on the “Edit Details” button under My Details, you can change the e-mail and telephone number you have entered.

If you wish to cancel or delete the visit request, you must click the red button called “Delete My Booking” on the top right side of the Booking Details section. Deleting a booking will remove all the data you have entered and the request you have made, you will not be able to recover that request and you will have to make a new request again.

Only when a video visit request has been made and the Prison Institution has been approved and the Booking Status is shown as “Approved” on the Booking Details Page, the video call button will be available as a camera icon at the top right side of the Booking Details section. All you have to do is click on the camera icon and wait until the prison connects to the video call. (Do not click on the “I am the Host” button)

The booking Status

There are five types of booking status.

• Pending Approval

This message will appear soon after you made your request. This message will remain till the prison considers your message. As long as the message appears, you do not have the approval to visit the inmate through this service.

• Approved

“Approved” message appears when the prison has verified and approved your visit request. When it appears on the system, you are allowed to visit the inmate.

• Canceled

A cancelled message is shown when the prison has considered your visit request and then rejects it due to certain reasons. If so, visitors are not entitled to visit the inmate.

• Completed

“Completed” status appears after the completion of the visit by you. That means you have successfully completed the visit.

• Expired

“Expired” status appears when you did not visit the inmate online on the requested date or you have not come to the prison for the visitation. “Expired” means your chance of visiting is expired.

Connect to the video call

You must have a computer with a web camera, microphone, and internet facility to take a video call. The quality of the video visit depends on the web camera, the quality of the microphone, lighting conditions and the speed of the internet connection. Even though there is no computer, a mobile phone with the above facilities could be used for our video call service.

By using the Token Number given to you for the requested video visit, you can log into the system and take the video call. You can open the video call by clicking on the “video icon” at the top right corner of the visit information page. (This sign appears only when the prison has approved the request for your visit and the booking status has appeared as approved).

The Department of Prisons provides the video call facility and video calls can be taken only using the video visit service provided by the Prison.

You are entitled to get the video call only after the approval of your request by the prison.

You must connect to the video call by opening the video call at least 5 minutes earlier than your visit time on that day. Here, you are the participant and the prison is the host. (Do not click on the “I am the host” button)

The prison will connect you to the call on time and you will have approximately 15 minutes of call duration. If you are not connected to the call on time or your given time has passed, your request for the video call will be cancelled.

If your video call is successfully completed or your allocated time expired, you will not be able to get the call using that link. You must book another time and make a new visit request.