ROCKFORD — For years, standard issue items for a Winnebago County Jail inmate have been a jumpsuit, sandals, a towel and a package of toiletries.
Soon, a tablet could be added to that list.
"It's the future," Jail Superintendent Bob Redmond said. "It's something we've got to look at." Redmond already is in touch with tablet vendors.
The wave of the future is being ushered in by the unreliable service of the present.
Winnebago County Public Safety Committee members unanimously agreed earlier this week to terminate the county's contract with Legacy Inmate Communications, the county's provider of inmate telephone services. A vote by the full County Board could come next week. Legacy is responsible for maintaining the telephones in each of the jail's pods as well as in the booking area. The company charges inmates 55 cents a minute for local calls and 21 cents a minute for interstate calls.
A portion of the money collected is shared with the county each month, but Redmond said the company is two months behind in payments totaling more than $100,000.
Redmond said the California-based company also has had trouble keeping the more than 100 phones throughout the jail operating. Each pod can hold 64 inmates, and there are six phones per pod.
"We've had numerous service issues since we had the (nearly two-year) contract," he said. "We feel it is best to terminate now with a 90-day notice."
As recently as last week, from Thursday to Monday, all phones in one pod failed, corrections Lt. Dave Huff said. Because inmates are entitled to phone privileges, additional corrections officers were needed to escort inmates to a different pod where they could make phone calls.
"It was crazy," Huff said.
Problems arise even when all six phones in a pod are working.
"We've had numerous fights over the phone," Redmond said. "It's 'A guy has been on the phone too long,' or 'I told someone I was going to call at a certain time of the day. Now I can't.' Then the fights start."
Jail officials said the wireless tablets, which have phone capabilities, will help eliminate jailhouse scuffles and injuries to corrections officers. Redmond said he has already been in contact with two vendors, GTL and Securus Technologies.
Although the tablets may vary in style by vendor, Redmond said, "They are not off-the-shelf Kindle readers or iPads. We're looking at something that is built specifically for the corrections industry. These are rugged secure tablets."
GTL spokeswoman Vinnie Mascarenhas said her company's tablet "only allows the content that the (jail) facility allows on it."
The tablets cannot access the internet and do not have social media capabilities. Instead, the tablets are intranet-based, meaning content available on the tablet — such as GED coursework, religion classes, the law library, and music — is controlled and monitored in the jail. Inmates who have money on their commissary account can make phone calls and purchase approved books and games from the vendor. A portion of the money collected from the phone calls and purchases made by the inmates will be given to Winnebago County.
The Pima County Jail in Tucson, Arizona, contracted with GTL and made the tablets available to inmates nearly a year ago.
"It's a humongous management tool," said Capt. Sean Stewart, who described the tablets as the inmates' lifeline to approved family and friends. "If the inmate knows he can lose it, you are going to garner positive behavior.
"You have to make sure, though, that you put something on it (free books, games and music) that even an indigent can access. Otherwise, it's just a paperweight."
Stewart said content provided in the Pima County Jail includes free books from the Gutenberg Project, a vast collection of digitized books.
"We also have (LexisNexis) so that every inmate has access to a law library," Stewart said. "Now I don't have to staff the law library."
Over the next six months, he expects to be able to provide inmates with literature from Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous and information on resume writing.
Stewart said the tablets had reduced by 40 percent the number of fights between inmates and between inmates and corrections officers.
"We also lowered our suicide ideation by over 60 percent," he said. "They are not sitting there staring at a wall all day and dwelling on how they ruined their lives or impacted their family."
Stewart said the inmates for the most part guard the tablets with care. "I don't care how many fights you have in a jail. Two things inmates never wreck is the TV and the phones."
For skeptics who question whether such a privilege should be given to people in jail, Stewart said he reminds them of two things: "The tablets are provided at no cost to the public, and these are not convicted individuals. These are your neighbors. Here in Pima County, the average length of stay in jail is 12 days."
Chris Green: 815-987-1241; cgreen@rrstar.com; @chrisfgreen
Source: Tablets for Winnebago County Jail inmates?
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