Why CA Prisoners Are Worried About Trading Their Tablets – CalMatters

from Joe GarciaCalMatters

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California changed its ways prison population connects to the outside world by giving every inmate an electronic tablet to make free calls, receive messages and access other services.

Suddenly, inmates could exchange real-time text messages with family and friends from their cells, albeit for a price.

“I had never used a smartphone before or anything like that. So to have that, to basically have a phone in your cell, it opened up a whole new world of possibilities,” said K. Webb, who has been incarcerated at High Desert State Prison since 2010 and I got a tablet a few years ago.

But today, the entire system of nearly 90,000 inmates is in the midst of a disruptive switch to new tablets from a new vendor. The project was months behind schedule, temporarily leading to increased texting charges for users at the first prison where it was fully implemented.

The changes follow a legal battle and subsequent bidding war between the two national companies that provide these services, Securus and Viapath/Global Tel Link. Securus stepped forward, taking four-year, $189 million contract and replacement of Viapath.

As national competitors, Securus and Viapath control the vast majority of the captive telecommunications market. Securus has contracts with over 3,400 prisons and jails. Viapath has been operating since almost 2000.

Securus devices were supposed to be in every prison by the end of last year. Instead, most California prisons still operate Viapath tablets and are not expected to switch to later this spring.

Securus makes money when inmates video chat, broadcast, or text someone. Its contract indicated it would charge less for these services than Viapath.

But inmates and their outside contacts at the first prison to receive Securus tablets quickly discovered a discrepancy in the way the company described the fees they would pay when they sent text messages on their tablets.

The inmates and their loved ones believed the company would charge 3 cents per message under its contract. But they found the messages cost more than that, apparently due to a previously undisclosed pricing scheme based on the number of characters.

This month, after inmates and attorneys complained about the fees and CalMatters raised questions about the fees, Securus quietly adjusted its billing practices to reflect what was stated in the original contract, with messages costing 3 cents. He also issued each person at the California Institute for Women in Chino a $10 credit.

The company did not respond to repeated requests for comment from CalMatters.

It can make windfall profits through its entertainment platform fees even after adjusting messaging fees.

“All the new movies, the ones you’d actually want to see, you rent each one individually,” said Grace Coleman, an inmate at the Chino Women’s Prison. “For example, Wicked: For good is $8.99 — and once you press play, you only have 48 hours to watch it.

“They’re making bank. These are like normal world prices.”

People in prison tend not to earn normal world wages. Most earn less than 74 cents an hour for the jobs they hold in prison.

For expenses greater than these, relatives or friends can put money into their prison account.

Coleman described the prison’s acceptance of Securus devices as cumbersome.

“It was on and off,” she said. “The Wi-Fi keeps cutting out. Even the landlines keep cutting out. They keep coming here to fix it.”

Bianca Tylek, founder of the advocacy organization Worth Rises and author of The prison industry: how it works and who profitshas overseen Securus and Viapath for her work.

“These transitions are tedious and have a lot of problems,” Tylek said. “Both companies are kind of shoddy. They don’t prioritize the issues they should because they think people don’t care about people who are in prison.”

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation website says the switch to Securus will ultimately reduce costs to inmates and their families for tablet services such as electronic messaging, photo sharing and video calling. This will also reduce the costs for the state, which pays the bill for the outgoing telephone calls of those deprived of liberty.

“I don’t believe one company is better than the other,” Tylek said. “But for communications services, it’s probably one of the best deals out there. California has among the best rates for phone calls, video calls and e-messaging.”

Hidden costs

California is one of only five states that cover the cost of inmate phone calls.

Securus charged the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation less for such calls than Viapath, which was key to Securus winning the contract.

“This is a huge national problem,” said Sen. Josh Becker, who in 2022 wrote the law that mandated and subsidized zero calls to inmates. “I’m thankful we’re leading in California now, at least in terms of phone calls.”

Becker, a Democrat whose district includes Menlo Park, has moved to pass more legislation this year to make electronic messaging free.

“That’s the unfairness of the whole thing,” Becker said. “And not just the unfairness, but the illogical nature of charging in a world where the cost of telecommunications is approaching free.”

He said his office is closely monitoring the Securus contract and how it is charging consumers.

Coleman said everyone around her in her unit has been immersed in the new media packages offered by Securus.

“Right now, people are happy. When people start seeing their bills, how much money they’re spending to see these movies and stuff, it might be different.”

“Helps the overall environment”

Prior to the introduction of tablets, an outside party would have to set up a prepaid phone account before calls could be accepted.

“Depending on where you call, the cost was pretty significant,” Webb said. “I called Georgia once and it was like $27 for 10 minutes.”

Making a call can become stressful and even dangerous at times due to limited access to phones.

“We only had four pay phones for the entire building — four phones for 175 to 200 people,” Webb said. “I’ve seen numerous fights and people brutally stabbed over the phone – like using someone’s phone time or spending two minutes.”

Most people inside—staff and residents alike—noticed a different atmosphere in the community once everyone had access to their own assigned device. They said it makes prisons feel safer because inmates no longer have to deal with the difficulties of sharing limited phone resources, and officers no longer spend time supporting an ill-equipped phone system.

“Anything you can do to increase the contact someone can have with their family and loved ones will lead to better outcomes for most people,” said recently retired California Director of Corrections Dave Lewis.

And because the tablets offer 24-hour access to educational platforms and media services, they have instantly improved the way inmates can use their time.

“Just the sheer boredom of being locked up can lead to worse outcomes for people’s safety,” Lewis said. “Giving someone something to do more regularly – even if it’s just being able to watch a film on a tablet – it helps the overall environment of the institution and takes away that downtime which can be quite dangerous.”

Loss of personal data

Locked-in tablet users are most concerned about two aspects of the switch from Viapath to Securus: service interruptions when their facility switches, and losing access to the personal photos, videos and messages they’ve received over the past three years.

The interim contract with Viapath remains in effect until the transition is complete. Some of the delays and setbacks since last November can be attributed to efforts to maintain smooth, uninterrupted service.

Most facilities tell their residents that they will turn in their old devices for a same-day exchange with the new tablets, and that the Securus platform will immediately be up and running at that time.

But none of the personal data or streaming subscriptions will be transferred. Moving to Securus will mean resetting everything and starting over.

Viapath does not offer a way to store or save the data on a separate electronic medium. Without direct access to the Internet, prisoners cannot use cloud services such as Dropbox or Google Drive.

They are only given one chance. At their own cost per page, they can send photos and messages to be printed before the Viapath tablets become obsolete. After that, everything becomes permanently unavailable.

“Losing all my photos and videos would be tragic,” Webb said.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.