Soon Island County jail inmates who’ve committed crimes in San Juan County won’t have to fly from Whidbey to Friday Harbor for every single Superior Court hearing.

Superior Court Judge Vickie Churchill was recently awarded a $25,000 Board of Judicial Administration grant to fund high-tech video conferencing equipment. The system, which will link Island and San Juan counties, will allow inmates to appear in the San Juan court — virtually — without leaving the jail in Coupeville.

Because there are no detention centers in the San Juans, people who need to be held in jail are transported to the Island County jail in Coupeville. But then they have to be shuttled back and forth by private charter flights from the jail to the San Juans for court hearings, even if it’s just a continuance or to set dates for future hearings.

With the new equipment, however, the inmate can appear in court via TV from a make-shift hearing room at the jail. The rooms is already set up for video conferencing between the jail and the district court in Oak Harbor.

In fact, Churchill said the district court will probably be able to use the newer, better equipment that will be provided by the grant.

The benefit of the new setup, Churchill said, is increased safety for the inmates, increased security and a decrease in costs for the court system. It costs about $100, plus the cost of a guard, to fly an inmate back and forth to the San Juans. Plus, sheriff’s departments want to transport prisoners as little as possible because of the risks of escape, assaults and so on.

Yet Judges Churchill and Alan Hancock will still have to make weekly trips over to the San Juans. Since the two counties are in the same judicial district, they share the same two Superior Court judges.

In fact, Churchill said she and Hancock often fly over to the islands even when the weather is considered too dangerous for flying the inmates over.

“It puts you straight where you stand,” Churchill joked. “We can see how important we are in the scheme of things.”