Steele County Jail & Detention Remote Inmate Video Visits

Steele County Jail & Detention

Address:
2500 Alexander Street
Owatonna, MN 55060

Phone:

507-446-7000

Video Calls from an Inmate at the Steele County Jail & Detention

Steele County Jail & Detention uses the services of Reliance Telephone for video (visit) phone calls and for emailing/texting to inmates.

Note: This option may not be available for your inmate. When registering, check to see if devices are available.

  • Known as the 'Reliance Inmate Wallet', it makes funding jail communication easy. 
  • Payments made into an 'Inmate Wallet' account are linked to a dedicated telephone number for inmates who rent one of their Reliance Tablet Phones.
  • Inmate Wallet funds can be used for personal inmate text messaging, voice calls and video calls. 
  • The cost of this is $4.00 per month for rental of the Reliance Tablet Phone + $0.25 per minute for video and voice calls.

What is a video visit?

Video visitation, also known as remote visitation, is quickly becoming the preferred method for visiting an inmate in jail or prison for the following reasons:

•    It requires little to no staff, versus the staff required to move inmates to and from the visit and watch over the visit. It saves the Steele County Jail & Detention money.
•    It removes any opportunity for contraband (drugs) to enter the facility.
•    It can become a profit center for the facility, given that the revenue generated by visits is shared with the jail.
•    While inmates prefer to see family and friends in person, video visitation allows them to visit with them more often, and on a whim.
•    Video visitation gives the inmates and their visitors the feeling of more privacy.

Video visitation from the perspective of the visitor allows them to visit from their home, their car, at work, and even allows them to take their device to a family or religious gathering. It allows them to give their inmate the feeling of belonging and not being forgotten.

Video visitation can take place on a computer, a tablet or a phone. 

Video visitation saves time. Instead of spending hours driving to the jail, checking in, filling out paperwork, potentially being searched, waiting, and then having a 15–30-minute visit, if it isn’t cancelled at the last minute, the visit can be done from anywhere during a short break in the visitor’s day.

If the visitor does not have access to a phone or computer, they can make an appointment ahead of time and use terminals in the lobby of the jail.

You must also be on the inmate's approved list, even for a video visit.

What are the companies that work with the jails and prisons that allow video visits?

There are several different companies that contract with all the jails and prisons that allow video visitation:

These are the companies in alphabetical order:

CIDNET
City Tele Coin
Correct Solutions Group
Correct Pay
Ctel
Gettingout
GTL
Homewav
IC Solutions
Inmate Canteen
Inmate Sales
iwebvisits
JailATM
Jpay
Gettingintouch (netvisit)
NCIC
Prodigy Sales
Reliance
Securus
Smart Communications
Tiger Services
Visitel
In addition, some jails use Microsoft Meeting and Zoom.

Steele County Jail & Detention also uses the services of Inmate Canteen for Remote Video Visitation with Inmates while you are at home.

For best results use Google Chrome as your browser for accessing Inmate Canteen.
Instructions on Inmate Video Visitation:

  • Register or Log in to your account
  • Select the facility where the inmate is located and the inmate you wish to visit.
  • Select the "Video Visit an Inmate" option
  • Follow the prompts on screen to schedule the visit.

    Video Visitation must be done from a computer using Google Chrome and an updated Adobe Flash player. Before starting this process you must make sure that your Adobe Flash player is fully updated and that you are using Google Chrome. First... Set up Flash, then restart your computer and then go to Google Chrome on your desktop or laptop computer and log on to Inmate Canteen.
    Steps Inmate canteen Visitation:
    1. Go to www.inmatecanteen.com on a computer (not supported on mobile devices i.e. tablets, cell phones, etc)
    2. Log in, select your inmate, and select the Video Visit an Inmate option.
    3. You will be required to fill out a form, submit a driver's license picture and a picture of your face. Once submitted, Steele County Jail & Detention will either approve or deny it.
    4. Once approved you will be all set to video visit!
    NOTES: Make sure you are allowing flash player to run in google chrome by selecting the lock icon to left of the browser. Flash Player needs to be set to “allow”. Then you can refresh the page and it should be good to go. If flash player is being blocked you will not be able to take a picture or see any video during the visitation. When you click on the video visitation link on the website, please visit the Audition Room to test your equipment. To find the Audition Room, please click on 'Video Visit an Inmate' and it will be located on the top of your screen. Here you can test and verify that your webcam and microphone are working. We highly recommend a hard line for video visiting, unstable internet can result in poor visit qualities.

How Do You Schedule and Visit an Inmate in Steele County Jail & Detention?

To set up an account to schedule and visit your Steele County inmate, follow these instructions:

  • Register and set up a new account with RELIANCE, or log in if you already have an account.
  • Select Steele County Jail & Detention, then select your inmate who you will be visiting.
  • Your identity will have to investigated and approved by the Steele County staff.
  • Once approved, you can schedule a visit.

For all the information you need in order to schedule and visit your Steele County inmate, or to assist them in visiting with others, including instructions, fees, cost of each visit, requirements for free visits, tablet rentals that can be used for visits, payment methods and times that your inmate can have a visit, check out our Visit Inmate Page.
NOTE: All of your visits with your inmate will be monitored and recorded. Use discretion when discussing sensitive information about their pending case.


 

How Do Inmates in Steele County Jail & Detention Make Phone Calls?

To set up your Steele County inmate to make to make phone calls to you and others, follow these instructions:

For all the information you need in order to receive phone calls from your Steele County inmate, or to assist them in making calls to others, including instructions, fees, cost of calls, payment methods and times that your inmate can use the phone, check out our Inmate Phone Page.
NOTE: All of your communication with your inmate will be monitored and recorded. Use discretion when discussing sensitive information about their pending case.


 

How Do Inmates in Steele County Jail & Detention Send and Receive Texts and Emails?

To set up your Steele County inmate to make to send and receive texts and emails to you and others, follow these instructions:

For all the information you need in order to send and receive texts and emails from your Steele County inmate, or to assist them in sending and receiving secure messages to and from others, including instructions, fees, cost of each message, tablet rentals, payment methods and times that your inmate can send messages, check out our Text/Email an Inmate Page.
NOTE: All of your communication with your inmate will be monitored and recorded. Use discretion when communicating sensitive information about their pending case.


 

How to Send a Carepack Commissary Package Directly to an Inmate in Steele County

To send a commissary carepack (food, snacks and goods) directly to an inmate in Steele County Jail & Detention follow these steps:

  • Register to create an account, or Log in to your account at Inmate Canteen if you already have one.
  • Select Minnesota, then Steele County Jail & Detention, and then the inmate you wish to purchase commissary items for.
  • Select the "Purchase Commissary Items" option.
  • Follow the prompts on screen to purchase items for an inmate.
  • Maximum spend is $125.00.
  • NOTE: Steele County Jail & Detention may at times only allow online deposits for your inmate to purchase their own commissary locally. 

For all information, tips and to see the hundreds of available items for shipping Commissary packages to an inmate in Steele County Jail & Detention, or to see how deposit money so that your inmate can purchase their own commissary, check out our Commissary Instructions Page for Steele County.


 

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