Municipal Court Judge John Siefert of Branch One maintains video and audio contact with a defendant in the Milwaukee County Jail through a new teleconferencing system known as video arraignment. Arraignment hearings are held over closed circuit television and made possible with fiber optics. The general public and defendant can also view each other through a system of monitors and cameras in the courtroom and jail.
Video arraignments improve efficiency, safety .
Ethical and legal issues surrounding cameras in the courtroom were brought to the forefront of discussion during the O.J. Simpson case nearly two years ago. Today, it is not uncommon to see two or three monitors and mounted cameras in areas of a courtroom as part of a dual teleconferencing system known as video arraignment. . In Milwaukee, municipal court judges have the ability to view a defendant in the secure confines of the jail from their bench with the help of a monitor positioned at their side. In much the same way, the defendant can look the judge in the eye from the video arraignment room in the jail, see the general public's seating, the court recorders and the bailiff by a screen divided into four different quadrants. . The paperwork during the arraignment proceedings is exchanged instantaneously after the decision is handed down by fax.