Computer tablets for inmates might work

The idea of Colorado prison inmates receiving computer tablets — at no cost to the prisoners, even — arouses a sense of outrage in law-abiding citizens and among the families of crime victims.

What? Another comfort, another taste of the free world, for those who abused their freedom when they had it?

Yes. That is what this is.

Still, there is merit to the idea. Consider that libraries, education and jobs — all of which are offered at prisons — are a taste of freedom that help prisoners prepare for the outside world. Likewise computer tablet use, when monitored carefully, can serve that purpose.

But first there are questions. And those include questions not only about what inmates will do with those tablets, but about the company that is offering them.

As GTL Corp. operates its pilot program for about 8,000 Colorado inmates, our hope is that what prisoners; the prison system; and, to an extent, society receive is what is being marketed: a way of improving prisoner behavior, making prisons a safer and better preparing prisoners now for their eventual release.

The tablets that the private company's Inspire program is providing are restricted. They can't access the internet but allow calling, texting and access to select games, music and books; those calls and texts are monitored; the tablet cases are clear and can't be opened, preventing them from carrying contraband; and the devices work only from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Inmates, or their families, pay $2 to $3 for each call or 25 cents for each text, up to 2,000 words.

Sheriffs at jails in California and Arizona where these devices have been distributed are reporting fewer inmate problems, among them the grouping of inmates along racial lines or gang ties when it came to battling for access to land-line phones. Additionally, the privilege of having the tablets is an incentive to maintain good behavior.

And when it comes to monitoring inmate communication, it's easier for prison or jail officials to search for key words in a digital message than it is to open and read every piece of mail.

This doesn't mean there aren't concerns about the program. While the tablets are programed so that inmates can't communicate with fellow gang members across the prison system, allowing any prisoners phone and text access to one another across the prison system appears to be asking for trouble. After all, if limited access to land lines creates conflict, can't a prison provide more land lines, rather than hand prisoners a tool with which they can create more mayhem?

What problems can arise when you give one company a monopoly on a prisoner business, one on which both prisoners and prison officials come to rely for the smooth operation of a penitentiary?

Finally, could inmates — and more specifically, their families — end up bearing a greater burden for simple communication, all going to a for-profit company that's operating with the prison walls?

The state should learn everything it can from this pilot program, to make sure that it's working as advertised, and the effect is improvement not just in prisoners' daily lives, but in their preparation to be productive citizens upon their release.

Source: Computer tablets for inmates might work