When Rolando Nooks, 47, couldn’t FaceTime his incarcerated brother during their grandmother’s funeral in 2017, a lightbulb went off.
“If I’m having this problem, how many other people are having that problem?” Nooks recalled asking himself.
The answer led him to create Compassionate Reprieve, a company specifically focused on streaming funeral services to people in prison.
Nooks, a Jamaica-born technology professional with a Master’s degree in information technology from the University of Phoenix, had already begun live-streaming funerals to distant family members after helping his wife, Genia, view their father’s funeral service in Jamaica via FaceTime after she missed her flight.
But his brother’s inability to watch their grandmother’s funeral expanded Nooks’ vision. After researching whether any company provided such a service to inmates, he found none. When COVID-19 hit, demand for regular funeral streaming grew substantially, prompting more research into adapting his service specifically for incarcerated individuals.
According to company data provided by Compassionate Reprieve, the average cost to transport an inmate to a funeral is approximately $3,500 and requires multiple officers for security.
“We remove the risks,” Nooks explained. “There’s no risk of public safety where an inmate could possibly plan to escape.”
The company officially launched its services in late 2024 and is currently operating in Georgia and California. The multi-person operation uses adaptable technology since prison facilities have varying equipment — some use tablets, others have different systems.
“There’s no two correctional facilities that are identical,” Nooks said.
The process begins when family members complete a form on the company’s website, then there is coordination with the funeral home and prison facility, creating a private portal that meets the specific technological requirements of the institution.
“One thing you got to know about the Department of Justice or the correction facilities is there’s no two correctional facilities that are identical,” Nooks said. “If they don’t have tablets, we’ll supply the tablets. If they don’t have the necessary know-how, we’ll provide training for the staff internally.”
Privacy is paramount for many families. Nooks described a recent case where a family didn’t want the funeral home to know their son was incarcerated, requiring additional discretion.
While currently focused on funerals, Nooks indicated interest in eventually expanding to other life events like weddings and births, though such services aren’t yet approved under current policies.
Maintaining family connections appears increasingly important in correctional settings. According to Compassionate Reprieve, approximately 37% of inmates have been diagnosed with mental illnesses, and studies suggest maintaining family connections can significantly reduce the national recidivism rate of 43.5%.
For Nooks, success isn’t measured primarily by profit. According to the Sentencing Project, approximately 2.7 million children have a parent who is incarcerated. Enabling inmates to participate in significant family events, even virtually, helps maintain family stability and emotional well-being for these children and their families while potentially reducing feelings of isolation and depression among inmates.”.
“If I can change one person’s life, then I believe I’ve done my job here,” he said. “Everything is transactional. And if we could get back to tapping into the human side of our interaction, that’s really the word I’d like for us to get out there.”
To learn more visit https://compassionatereprieve.org/