FIGHT AGAINST EXPLOITATION The prison and jail communication industry is ripping off incarcerated people and their families. Join us in the fight to end this exploitation, so that people behind bars and their families can afford to stay in touch.

Thank you,

—Peter Wagner, Executive Director
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Electronic Messaging and Tablets   Tweet this

We think of email and the Internet as tools for staying in touch, but behind bars, they're becoming tools for exploitation. Private companies offer electronic tablets and kiosks to prisons — sometimes for free — and then overcharge incarcerated people and their loved ones to use them.

Worse, these low-quality digital products are becoming an excuse for some prisons and jails to eliminate essential services, like libraries and paralegals, and to charge people by the minute to read books.

The Prison Policy Initiative is bringing these abusive practices to light. We're calling for digital technology to be offered as it was originally designed: to be free and accessible to all. We also published a best practices guide for counties and states considering tablet programs.

See our key research below:

Reports


Correctional tablet and electronic messaging contracts

We've made our collection of electronic messaging and tablet contract documents public. Search them to see what companies are profting in your area.


Selected coverage of our work



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