Can Federal Inmates Use Tablets, Video Visits, or Email?

The tablet program in the federal Bureau of Prisons is real but was still in a pilot phase at a limited number of facilities at the time of this writing. Not every BOP institution has them, and availability varies by facility. Where tablets are available, inmates can typically use them for music, educational content, and messaging, but access is controlled and the content is curated by the BOP. If you want to know whether a specific facility has the tablet program, call the institution directly and ask.

Email through the BOP is available at all federal facilities through a program called CorrLinks. It is a closed, monitored system, not a regular email. Messages go through a 2 to 3-hour screening delay before they are delivered, and both the sender and the recipient have to be enrolled and approved. You set up an account on the CorrLinks website, your inmate adds you from their end, and you both accept the connection before messages can flow. It is a useful tool for staying in touch between calls and visits.

On video visitation in the federal system, this was not broadly available at BOP facilities. In-person visitation remains the primary option at federal prisons. If you have heard $10 to $15 per 30 minutes for video visits, that pricing structure is more typical of county jails and state prisons that use services like Securus or GTL for remote visitation. Verify directly with the specific federal facility whether any video option exists there, as policies can evolve.