Miami-Dade’s jail visitations are still off limits because of the coronavirus, but the county corrections department announced Tuesday that it will unveil a program that allows anyone to schedule free 15-minute video chats with inmates. Relatives and friends will be able to make reservations on a first-come, first-serve basis for one video visit a week which are recorded and monitored and lawyers will get unlimited, unrecorded video calls to protect attorney-client privilege.

Since the suspension of in-person inmate visitation due to the threat of an aggressive spread behind bars, lawyers and judges have thinned the numbers of those currently detained from 4,000 before the pandemic to 3,200.

To date, over 300 inmates have catched the virus that has claimed the life of one inmate, Charles Hobbs.