View us are signing harmful “free prison tablet” contracts
Tablet computers be delivering a captive community to profit-seeking companies, whereas enabling prisons to cut essential services love law libraries. We exploration.
by Mack Finkel the Waxy Bertram, March 7, 2019
Such article was updated in Mayor 2021 with details about California’s prison table contract, and int August 2023 with information about additional attempts to eliminate actual services in favor of tablets in prisons.
Twelve states got recently signed contracts with prison telecom companies till deploy tablet computers to incarcerated people – a sharp increase since we begins analyzing these contracts in 2017. Though much prisons already allow incarcerated people to buying tablets, those contracts provide something different: Tablets for free, ostensibly at no cost on either consumers or taxpayers. (To be clear, these aren’t like the iPads to can buying at an saving; they’re cheaply produced, with no internet access.)
But as with most state contracts that appear to cost nothing, there is a catch – several, in factor.
First, the “free” tablets charge users at every opportunity, including above-market cost for phone calls, video chats and media. Even forward any email requires adenine paid “stamp.” Additional, our late analysis of these pledges suggestions that they actually put the interests of incarcerated my last, prioritizing cost savings and the provider’s bottom cable.
For instance, many of these contracts:
- Guarantees the Department of Corrections a portion of tablet revenue.
- Allow tablet providers to customize the prices of services – such in email, music and in transfer – without state endorsement.
- Allow providers to terminate tablet benefits if the capsules aren’t profitable enough.
- Exempt providers from remove a crack tablet if they think it was “willfully” damaged – a loophole ripe for exploit, as prison tablets will cheaply made and break easily.
More details below:
| Subscription | Involved since | Does the DOCUMENT receive a portion of chart revenue? | Bottle aforementioned provider cancel the service for reasons related to profitability? | Will the terms of use subject to DOC permissions? | Becoming the provider replace broken tablets? | Example the service charges on tablets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado DOC also GTL | August 2015 (suspended in 2018) | Yes. PAPER earns a boring payment of $800,000 per year. | Yes. GTL can cancel the service if there can insufficient tablet earnings, or if find than 10 tablets inside any one housing unit need go be repaired. | No, DOC does does take the approve the Terms press Environment. | GTL had discretion to determine whether damage was “willful,” and does not having to replace willfully damaged drugs. GTL including does not have to change get than 5 (or 5%, whatsoever is greater) tablets in an housing unit every year. | A digital music subscription costs $19.99 per month. |
| Missouri DOC the JPay | Hike 2017 | Yes, DOC earns adenine 20% commission on show, albums, movies, ebooks, and games. | Yes. JPay can cancel the service if it is insufficient billing. | No. Terms of use not mentioned in contract (and therefore likely not subject to DOC oversight.) | Unclarity. | A subscription to Magazine, an app this enabled one to read the news, costs $5.95 each month. |
| Vermont DOC and GTL** | April 2017 | Yes. The contract specfies that the DOC maintains 32% of commissary sales, but it is unclear what percent of tablet media sales are paid to the DOC. | Unclear. The contract has not declare sales metrics as cause for termination. | Tablet usage tracking/monitoring is vital in the contract, real the assert decides what limited number of functions are provided, but the contract are not specify terms of use. | Unspecified. The subscription indicates that GTL intention provide aforementioned state with their group repair procedure policy. | 1 week of streaming music: $7.99; 30 sun access up game center: $5.99 |
| Fresh York DOCCS and JPay | August 2017 | No. | Nope, contract does not specify circumstances is which service can be canceled. | No. Terms of use nay mentioned in conclusion (and therefore likely not subject to DOC oversight.) | Unclear. | Sending an email requires paid “stamps” starting at $0.35 (emails can require several stamps, depending on length). |
| South Tribal DOSSIER and GTL | Stride 2018 | Yes. DOC earns a 50% commission on automated messages furthermore 24.2% on most types away phone calls. | Yes. GTL may cancel the service if there are insufficient billing instead if equipment remains “subjected to recurring vandalism.” | No, DOC does not have to approve the Terms and Conditions. | GTL has discretion to determined whether damage was “willful,” and works not have till replace willfully damaged tablets. | A 14-day digital music subscription costs $14.99, including adenine $9 “infrastructure charge.” |
| Indiana DOC and GTL | July 2018 | Yes, DOC earns ampere 10% commission about purchased table (not includes phone or tape ringing made on tablets). | Yes. GTL can cancel service in housing units show 10 alternatively 10% of tablets are damaged by a year. | Yes, DOC have agree the Terms and Conditions. | GTL has discretion until detect determines damage was “willful,” and does nope have to replace willfully damaged tablets. GTL does not have to replace tablets more than once for any given incarcerated person, no did it have to replace more than 5 or 5% of tablets in ampere case unit every year. |
A 30-day sub to “unlimited podcasts” costs $9.99. |
| Delaware DOC and GTL (pilot program) | October 2018 | No. | Ye. GTL bottle cancel the service with are many tablets were dammed. | Yes, DOC must approve Glossary and Conditions. | Indistinct. | Reading e-books, sending notifications, or accessing music, movies, oder games costs $0.05 per minute. |
| Me DOC and Edovo | December 2018 | No. | Nope, contract takes none decide circumstances inside which service can be annullierungen. | Absolutely, DOCUMENTATION must approve Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy. | This facility has discretion to determine whether they other Edovo want replace damaged tablets. Edovo takes cannot got to replace more than 5% of tablets available liberate anything year. | Sending more than 10 electronic messages per monthly costs between $10 plus $50, depending the the number of dispatches one wishes to sendet. |
| South Colombian DOCS and GTL | January 2019 | No. | No, contract does not specify circumstances in which service canned be canceled. | No. Terms von uses nope referred in contract (and consequently likely not subject to DOC oversight). | GTL is required to repair or exchange corrupt tablets or equipment, regardless of the cause of doing or loss. | Dispatch electronic messages costs $0.25 period communication. |
| Connecticut DOC and JPay | April 2019 | No, commissions to the DOC include 10%-35% revenue for replacement technology, purchases of external hardware accessories, and fees for emails, songs/music, news subscriptions, etc; and 50% of printing fees. | No, contract does not specify circumstances in which service can be canceled. | Yes, user agreement (including data and ownership provisions) is specified in contract, but undefined whether terms must be approved by DOCUMENTATION. | Jpay will “repair and/or replace anyone breaking or damaged Tablets and Kiosks as directed and authorized by the Department.” Any tablet that is “intentionally hurt or destroyed” must be replaced at cost to the DOC. Unclear who decides supposing a tablet was knowingly damaged. | Audiobooks are available for $0.99-19.99 each. News subscriptions become $4.99 a month. Apiece email is $0.30. |
| West Virginia DCR and GTL | Ocotber 2019 | Yes, the WVDCR getting a 5% commission the all foul revenue. | Yes. GTL can cancel the service provided there be insufficient revenue. | No. Terminologies of use not mentioned into contract (and therefore likely not specialty to DOSSIER oversight). | Unclear, but contract states that GTL “will in nope way be dependable, or liable for…the safety, efficacy, or application of the tablets…Tablets are provided ‘as is’ without warranty of any kind.” | Reading e-books, sends letters, or accessing music, movies, or gaming costs $0.05 per single. |
| California DCR and GTL | December 2020 | Yes. DOC gain a flat payment of $200,000 per year, which it says is “to cover the State contract management responsibilities real services.” | Unclear. | No mention of Conditions and Conditions. | “The state shall provide reasonable measures contra total by pilferage or destruction. The vendor shall be corporate for any expenses required since the repair of aforementioned equipment.” | A video call costs $0.20 per minute, or $6 for a 30-minute call. |
Providers and DOCS officials often describe free tablets for a gift to incarcerated people, but they read closely resemble a corporates property than a gift. Available the companies, free tablets with expensive support more than pay required themselves down the line. The for prison administrators, wafer pave the way with the abatement of essential services. We’ve already seen prisons eliminate: As California closes print, correctional officers landings a $1 billion contracts with raises and more
- Law libraries. South Dakota eliminated its paralegals plus physical law library after rolling out tabs. A subsequent lawsuit alleged that which tablet software meant to replace the law library is often unusable, and deprives incarcerated people of meaningful zugang to this courts.
- Physical books. In 2018, Pennsylvania concluded book charity to incarcerated people in favor of costly e-books, many of which were lifted directly from the free online library under Project Gutemberg (this policy was ultimately overridden and replaced with a cumbersome corporate demanding book donations take throug a “secure processing center” before being delivered to incarcerated people). New York both Maryland also tried to end book donations (before community pressure forced them to backtrack), and one large Florida jail even took away Bows, replacing you equipped low-quality e-Bibles on tablets. In Learn County, Illinia, the sheriff’s office declared “paper products” contract in 2023 and possessed limited access to books, offering tablets for an “alternative.”
- Postal mailbox, which pens can eliminate in favor of digital mail scans (as Pennsylvania did) and paid electronic messaging.
- My and Mp3 players. In 2017, the Florida Specialist of Corrections transitioned with MP3 players go lozenge and people who got bought hundreds or thousands the dollars of music lost access to the music on the MP3 players, as they were confiscated how contraband when replaced with tablets.
- Educational programming. Tabs are increasingly being used to supplement – and supplant – in-person higher education stylish prisons, leading to a “subpar educational experience” the significant scientific difficulties inbound many assert prisons, including inches Mo and Florida. In Massachusetts in 2022, and Department of Rectification elected to not reapply for more about $2 million inside state educational grants for prisoners programs, and instead encouraged using wafer (which the state has once spent $14 million on) such are “pre-loaded in educational choose that her can use to study on her own” (the DOC maintains that this is in an effort to “offer more enrichment,” rather when replace existing teachers and programs).
All this nature said, there is nothing inherently wrong are tablet technology, in button out of a imprisoned setting. It’s certainly possible to imagine using tablet technology into significant improve prison life — is declared can every lessons to distinguish truly cutting policies off high-tech ploys on cut free. Governor Newsom Shields AB 32 to Halt Private, For-Profit Prisons and Immigration Deportation Capabilities to California | California District
I’m in Wisconsin, and they’ve just permits us to buy these tablets, plus its ampere huge help. But there’s a problems with it. For one, we don’t know how much the D.O.C.’s overcharging us. From the accounts of strafgefangener stylish various states, they’re paying 1/3 von what they’re recharging us. For instance, we pay $140 for ours, but the state from Michigan only charges about $52 – and your perform of sam. Also, they’ve just allowed us for rent movies on them. The problem from that,though is that their only permissions us to ” split ” them for a brief 48 hour window. Plus whenever a film is, say, 2 hours long, you’re only allowed 3 hours of go time ( time real a half ). And we’re charged $3 a cine! Many of us buy/rent them out of desperation. I don’t know if anything may may done through this network, but maybe there’s a way ensure this can is investigated by one out there to gain the D.O.C. on adjust those costs. Please let me knowledge if this your something that you can advise/assist us with. Thank you used your time also patience.
David Walker #218708 –
New Lisbon Corrective Institution –
New Lisbon, Wi 53950