Assisting Families of Inmates (AFOI) Reduces Cost of VADOC Video ...

Agency News

July 07, 2025

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA — Assisting Families of Inmates (AFOI), a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting families and children impacted by the incarceration of a loved one, announced that the cost of video visitation within the Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC), previously 15 cents-per-minute, will further decrease to 12 cents-per-minute effective July 1, 2025.

"A key element of successful reentry is having access to video visitation with friends and loved ones," said VADOC Director Chad Dotson. “We are thrilled that these services are now more accessible than before and will assist our inmates in maintaining and developing their relationships with their families and support systems, which should further reduce recidivism and increase public safety in Virginia. I thank AFOI and ViaPath Technologies for their ongoing collaboration and the services they offer to inmates and their families.”

Since 2010, AFOI has been a pioneer in video visitation for Virginia, providing video visits from visitor centers across the Commonwealth and expanding in 2019 to include video visits from home. Currently, AFOI collaborates with the VADOC and ViaPath Technologies to offer these essential connections.

“Reducing costs associated with visitation has been a priority of AFOI’s since program inception,” said AFOI Executive Director Fran Bolin. “We understand the value of visits to families, and we also understand cost impacts that families may experience as a hardship, especially today. Supportive, positive connections are a benefit to families, and to the Commonwealth as a whole; as these connections are essential to successful reentry, recidivism reduction and increased public safety.

“We are very pleased to have been able to continue to expand the program while also continuing to reduce the cost of visits to families. As of July 1, 2025, we have successfully instituted the program’s fourth cost reduction while also working alongside VADOC to expand access throughout all of Virginia’s prisons over the past year. AFOI thanks both the Virginia Department of Corrections and our technology partner, ViaPath Technologies, for their continuing work - program enhancements, expansion, improvements, increased access, and cost reductions to consumers - all of these things have been successfully accomplished over the past five years. This latest rate reduction, at 12 cents-per-minute, brings Virginia among the very lowest in the nation in costs for correctional video visitation services. AFOI looks forward to continuing our critical and intentional programming on behalf of families impacted by the incarceration of a loved one.”

Founded in 1978, AFOI is a Richmond-based non-profit organization dedicated to serving families of the incarcerated with evidence-based programs providing meaningful visitation, family support and children’s programs. Please visit www.afoi.org for more information, or for access to AFOI’s Visitation Assistance Fund for subsidy support with video visits.