Re: Inmate E-Mail (someone guessed right)

["Justin Scott" <admin () dtdns com>]

> Well, now I'll have no problem with going to jail. I
> mean the only thing keeping me from going was lack of
> internet access!!!

Even with this system in place I wouldn't want to spend any more than a
couple of hours in that place.  Just being there for the short time I
visited to meet with some of their staff and verify the system was working
properly gave me the heeby jeebies.  The kiosks that were installed are far
short of Internet access to say the least.

> Seriously, you're in jail! Why the hell do you get the
> privilege of anything. When my parents grounded me, I
> couldn't do anything, that was the punishment. I wouldn't
> have learned a lesson if I was grounded, and could
> still play on the computer, or go outside, or whatever.

There are a lot of varying opinions on the matter, and many people who have
never seen a jail operate carry an opinion similar to the one stated above.
It's really a matter of combining punishment with rehabilitation when you
get to the prison level.  Many people have the vision of the inmate sitting
in their cell all day for years on end without any privileges at all, but
outside of solitary confinement and protective custody inmates have a lot
more "freedom" within the jails than most people would expect.  The U.S.
Federal Bureau of Prisons already has an electronic messaging system that is
fairly widely deployed (see:
http://www.bop.gov/inmate_programs/trulincs_faq.jsp).

We're focusing on county jails which are mostly a holding tank for people
awaiting trial who can't bond out for whatever reason, and those serving
relatively short sentences.  Having said that, it's no place I'd want to be.
They get very few creature comforts and inmates spend their time watching
TV, working out, reading, or writing letters.  Essentially what this system
does is take the latter and make it electronic instead of physical.  The
jail gets to cut their costs and take mail from a cost center and convert it
into a revenue stream (or potentially break even and cover their costs to
process postal mail) which saves taxpayer dollars.  It's also easier to
monitor than postal mail.  At its basic level it takes something they
already have (send letters to and from family) and makes it more efficient
and less costly to the jail.


-Justin


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