UNION COUNTY, Miss. (WTVA) -- Some new technology is making it harder to smuggle illegal items into the Union County Jail. A new commissary kiosk has replaced the need for loved ones to bring outside items to the inmates.
The machine works like an ATM and allows the user to use cash, credit or debit cards to add money to an inmate's account.
"If you have 85-90 people in jail and when you try to separate everybody's money, it gets kinda complicated. This took that burden off of us," said Union County Sheriff Jimmy Edwards.
The inmate will use the money to order snacks, drinks, hygiene supplies and under clothes.
Under the old system, family and friends were allowed to bring approved items to the dispatcher's window, provide the inmate's name and wait for the assistance of a jail administrator.
But officials said this process took a lot of manpower.
"We've had contraband being brought in...in the band of underwear and hidden in everything that you can hide it in," said Edwards.
With the new kiosk, officials said families no longer have to wait to be seen, smuggling has dropped and officers are free to do other duties.
