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Indiana's Inmates Could Soon Have Access To Tablets (abc57.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from ABC57 News in South Bend, Indiana: Indiana is looking to help offenders who are behind bars. Soon, each inmate in the Hoosier state could have their own tablet. The Indiana Department of Correction says the tablet will help inmates stay connected with their families and improve their education. Offenders will be able to use the tablets to access any classwork, self-help materials or entertainment. Officials expect to use entertainment, like music or movies, to reward good behavior. The proposal was first filed in January. Apple iPad's or kindles won't be used. Instead, a company that makes tablets specifically for prisons or jails will be hired. One San Francisco based-company they may consider, Telmate, has a device that is used in more than 20 states, including some jails in Marshall County. INDOC is hoping a vendor will front the costs of the entertainment apps so taxpayers won't have to. INDOC also says it wants to avoid charging inmate fees because charging fees that they can't afford would defeat the purpose of the system. If the company selected pays, the vendor would be reimbursed and still earn a profit.
I know the get tough on crime crowd will be throwing a massive shit-fit, but if you can give them something to occupy their time, it might be less shit going down in there.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Obligatory Community reference:
http://community-sitcom.wikia....
These will be used 99.9% for porn.
there are 3 kinds of people:
* those who can count
* those who can't
They operate on cost plus contracts, with practically unlimited access to tax payer funds. If some court somewhere rules "inmates must have access to gym equipment", they could build a 2 million dollar gym in the prison and mop up 20% of it or build 20K gym and get 20% of that. Which one would they choose?
These prison companies charge 2 $ a minute for a phone call. Yes, in this day and age of unlimited voice and data, voice calls out of prison costs the inmates or their families 2$ a minute. Do you think this new fangled tablets are going to provided to them at reasonable costs you and I pay outside the prisons? You have not seen the twinkling dollar signs in the eyes of prison management executives.
The prison companies pressure judges to use harsh prison sentences using social media and slanted local news coverage. Lobby the legislators for minimum sentencing guidelines. Encourage law suites that will increase the cost of incarceration. More it costs, more is their margin! They also actually bribe judges to be harsh. Only a few judges like the one in Wilkes-Barry PA got caught, but that is just the tip of the iceberg.
We have to outlaw private sector prisons. It is a crying shame USA has the highest incarceration rate in the world and adding insult to injury we are paying through our noses for it.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
[1] Is it to punish Bad Guys, said punishment being a deterrent to keep all those not-quite Bad Guys from taking the plunge?
[2] Is it to protect the populace, keeping Bad Guys off the streets?
[3] Or is it to rehabilitate Bad Guys, transform them into Good Guys?
If it's [1] or [2], ditch the iPads and stack 'em up like cordwood. If it's [3], give 'em all iPads and teach 'em web design (the modern equivalent of making license plates), but don't call it 'prison,' because words mean something. It seems to me the justice system blurs all these distinctions into a muddy and costly mess.
Don't get me wrong, I don't really have an issue with inmates getting tablets. I just can't help but wonder how states have funds for programs like this but funding for education still suffers.
I saw another article about this a month ago.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ne...
They may be able to customize how locked down they are depending on the facility where they're used.
In this article they pay 5 cents a minute.
Inmates can text and call up to 10 contacts who must be screened and approved by the company. Telmate monitors and stores data on the inmates’ communications, providing the information to investigator
Better article:
http://cbs6albany.com/news/loc...
Inmates can't surf the web on the devices but they are allowed to talk to or text up to 10 contacts. The sheriff says Telmate, the company that created the tablet software, checks those people out before any communication occurs.
“As well as vetting the person they look for buzzwords, encrypted messages trying to come through,” Apple said.
So instead of waiting for a family member to visit for relaying hit orders to the brute squad, they can do it via email or chat?
So sitting around cell surfing on a tablet is productive? I think our prisons are not doing enough to use a labor force that needs to pay back to society. Why is it we can buy tablets for people who commit crimes. But our schools get by with old technology or no technology? Tell me also how a specialized tablet will not cost three times as much as a Kindle or cheap Android. Isn't that all they need is a cheap tablet? If they need one at all?
It will be entertaining to see the variety of weapons made from tablet parts. Tour a prison some day and see the creative weapons built by inmates.
the motivation for this (like all corrections related moves) is money. Garbage tablets can be purchased for a song. Making inmates and their families pay > $100 for something that cost almost nothing is why corrections institutions are privatized.
not sure where that spoonful of nonsense originates, but prison exists (almost exclusively) to be a deterrent. That is their function.
A "rehabilitative" prison? lol.
Punish the bastards.
I hope nobody gets it in their minds to make inmates peddle or watch ads to reimburse their privileged tablet. And I can think of many other tasks... Next to that, like pen and paper a tablet could be the same kind of tool. But what does really make the behavioral difference required when freedom is granted back?
Support Eachother, Copy Dutch Property!
This is going to be great shank material!
...why, for a goodly chunk of the population, it wouldn't just be better to become a ward of the state, again?
-Styopa
I live in Illinois and have a very high-stress IT job. I should just drive the 90 miles and commit armed robbery at the first gas station. I could basically do the same thing I do today, but without the stress, pressure, or cost of living I have now.
it will be much more efficient to run your minions on the outside if you have a tablet computer. Like there won't be a usb stick up somebody's rear that allows them to skype, bank, send emails, etc.
...is a tablet vendor account exec playing golf with some senior official at the state corrections office. Whether it's a good idea for the inmates or society is purely secondary.
well under gop healthcare plan you may have to and you just need to rob a bank to go to a fed lockup. Bette healthcare then states.
The get tough on crime type know in their heart of hearts that they are criminals and that scares them, so what does a criminal propose be done about crime, especially a not very bright one? Commit crime on criminals of course!
Alright, now that I've got all the lampooning of all the comments with bad ideas largely out of my system, to talk about what would really be a deterrent. Exposing people to things that actually do have value and encouraging them to value them and to do things that have value and to value doing things that have value. That's how you deter people who do things that don't have value from doing things that don't have value. Doing things that don't have value, to people only gives them the impression that there are cases where doing those things does have value.
http://www.motherjones.com/env...
"So this is the choice before us: We can either attack crime at its root by getting rid of the remaining lead in our environment, or we can continue our current policy of waiting 20 years and then locking up all the lead-poisoned kids who have turned into criminals."
A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
I fail to see why the US treats drug addiction as a criminal problem vs a social problem. How is using or possessing small amounts of drugs is a crime? Where are the bodies at!?!? No one anyone been shot, stabbed, raped, or killed. The government is presumably protecting you from yourself --from all the harm that you could have potentially caused to yourself. This somehow merits years in prison and a criminal record. Prison sentences are ridiculously high in the US vs other countries, and that's mostly due to political reasons. How the f**k is Anders Breivik only doing 21 years for murdering 77 people? I've read that Norway prioritizes rehabilitation as a primary strategy for reducing future criminal behavior --I guess that's how they look at prison, as a means to rehabilitate. On the other hand, the US system is designed to keep people coming back. Why must you list yourself as a felon on an employment application? Or have your voting right stripped? Once you've paid your debt to society you should be done with it! Not have to carry it around for the rest of your life. There's no two way about it, it's modern day slavery.
Those ditches won't dig themselves.
I've long been an advocate of e-books or tablets for inmates as they have the potential to catch on and be a real game changer if the politically correct sadists don't shoot down the problem. Staggering amounts of people who end up in jail/prison lack basic literacy skills. Far too many jails also lack decent libraries, or even opportunities to finish school. Start using audio books and movies with captioning and you'll see the problem with recidivism begin to solve itself. Empowering inmates with education and entertainment, especially on a platform where every interaction can be closely monitored, you even develop a control group for assessing psychological behavior. Imagine if people actually learn a skill, trade, or even sharpen their technical literacy in ways never possible before due to inmate safety, cost or other barriers.
I work for a community corrections department (work release). I can see this as a valuable tool to help transition participants back into society with new skills and a better outlook. Many of the participants I deal with struggle with technology. They are already at a disadvantage with their criminal records looking for work or even housing. The more technology they're exposed to the better they will be in the least long run. They are required to complete many courses by INDOC and several are also working on High School Equivalency. There will be many that abuse such a program but for others it will be life changing. As many others have said, it is robbery the cost of phone calls.