IC solutions

IC solutions is an Android video visitation system that allows family and friends to schedule and participate in video calls with an inmate either from home or at a facility. When a friend or family member is sent to jail, staying in touch is not only emotionally necessary, but often quite difficult on a logistical level—expectant visitors must travel great distances (outside of the cities and towns where many people have moved despite affordable housing shortages), work around schedules, and obey strict rules set by the facility. This app tries to solve for that by allowing 30-minute video calls from home, with mixed results in terms of emotional engagement.

What remote prison visitation is really like

Imagine a video conferencing app tailored for use in correctional facilities, featuring monitoring and recording capacity, as well as payment processing. Users first need to sign up at icsolutions.com, be facility approved, fund their account and schedule 48 hours in advance. The app manages the video connection, sessions requiring camera and microphone permissions (and network connectivity and echo testing) before you slide back into session. The cost is usually $7.50 per 30 minutes plus $3 service fee, and prices do vary by location. In-person visits at facility kiosks are commonly free, while home sessions cost users per session. The timer is activated automatically at the visitation time, regardless of whether or not the call has been connected — so if the inmate hasn't connected for some reason, visiting hours are still deducted from your prepaid session!

Technical demands and connection challenges

The app needs strong, uninterrupted WiFi or cellular signal—though some users even with high-speed internet complain of erratic connections. Pre-visit testing involves checks of network speed and echo tests, but if these pass, it does not mean call completion will be successful. Most Android devices (though not all) function slightly better than iOS, and some services explicitly say "no" to iPhone. Quality of the video is highly dependent on the visitor's connection and the prison's hardware. Sound issues range from stuttering and distortion to voices sounding like robots, or being broadcast with feedback or not at all (with workarounds such as the inmate needing to blow into their microphone). During a visit, if the connection is lost, there is no way for users to return — session ends and refund of unspent time is not possible.

The truth about customer service and refunds

For me, the most irritating thing is technical failures and nothing at all you can do about it. Users have wasted $50+ a pop attempting to contact customer service, who blame every failed connection on the visitor's network despite the visitor's network having passed speed tests. It has retained a 1.3-star app store rating, based mostly on issues with reliability and the fact that there are no refunds. When that doesn't work, ICSolutions blames problems on the user's internet connection and not shortcomings of their system. The failure to re-establish contact after crashes is burning through families' money and wasting precious time. Some facilities run into double-booking problems when more than one inmate tries to log into limited kiosk space, and visitors still are charged for failed sessions.

Emotional impact versus technical execution

For families with loved ones who are incarcerated, video calls provide critically important emotional connection — for parents spending years watching their children grow up, for couples separated by long sentences and for families striving to maintain connections across time spent apart. When the app functions, it does create real-world interaction no phone call can. But when technology fails, it's the emotional pain that feels overbearing. Dropping a call means not just losing the money but missing an opportunity to console a distraught family member, keep in touch with one's parents or offer much needed emotional support during difficult times. The high stakes nature of the service makes issues of reliability even more catastrophic for users relying on them.

Who this system works for (and doesn't)

Families located far away from correctional institutions benefit the most when the technology is working, as they don't have to pay for transportation or take time off of work. People who have good internet and fairly new Android phones are more successful. The system is used by lawyers to visit with their clients, but visits must be approved and they cannot be reserved by the attorney. The app is not going to work for families that lack tech savvy or have intermittent internet connection or aging devices.

Those looking for the same video chat quality they get at home on their consumer-grade solution will also be disappointed, and users who are handling family emergencies don't want an unreliable connection while dealing with bad news. ICS Mobile serves an important purpose of enabling Android users to video visit their incarcerated loved ones, but frequent technical failures, unacceptable customer support and no-refund policies only serve to further burden the families who already suffer from a friend or family member's incarceration.