California prisons have been touted as some of the most expensive in the U.S. However, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is looking to make them safer while reducing costs with a new communication method.
Inmates can purchase secured tablets through pre-approved vendors. The tablets come pre-loaded with content such as games and books, and if an inmate wants something added to that content, they have to mail it back to the vendor.
Five institutions in California are running a pilot program to make tablets purchasable through the facility canteen. High Desert State Prison will begin offering the tablets this week, and 400 inmates have begun using them at Kern Valley State Prison since May 23. The other three are set to roll out through June and July.
JPay, the vendor that handles inmate funds and allows family members to put “money on someone’s books,” has begun placing kiosks in the participating institutions, CDCR spokesperson Krissi Khokhobashvili told Techwire.
Only the top two “privilege groups,” based on conviction status, behavior and sentence terms, can purchase the tablets.
Inmates can connect their tablet to the kiosks and load pre-approved content and use a messaging service to connect with family members. Before connecting to the kiosks, inmates can compose messages and save them to send. Each message is paid for by the inmates and their family members.
Inmates have access only to approved family members through the secure messaging service.
“They can send a message that is read by staff. Families can send videos; for example, you can see your grandchild blowing out their birthday candles,” Khokhobashvili said.
The messages are reviewed both on their way into the prison and on the way out, and inmates are supervised at the kiosks.
“It’s important for inmates to stay connected to their families,” Khokhobashvili said.
A program on the tablet scans messages for words that could signal inappropriate, gang or hidden communication, and the prisons can add words to the lists. If facility staff suspects a word has become code for inmates to use “inappropriately, to conduct dangerous business or crime,” the word can be listed and then monitored.
The ability to review electronic messages reduces risk to staff and inmates, officials say.
All incoming and outgoing mail is inspected in all California prisons.
“This electronic communication cuts out the chance of there being contraband” in letters, Khokhobashvili said.
So far, 211 kiosks have been placed, and JPay has paid the cost of the program. More kiosks could be placed during the summer of 2018, depending on the information gathered during the pilot program. A statewide procurement solicitation would begin in early 2018 if that happens.
Before the pilot program started, the only devices available to inmates were e-readers assigned to people in college courses at the prisons. Those devices were pre-loaded with textbooks that included 180-day licenses and expired after each semester. The California Community College Chancellor’s Office had budgeted $3 million in the 2016-2017 budget to provide the e-readers and associated class materials.
