Tablets Let Inmates Go Online at Polk County Jail

Polk County Jail inmates are exploring the internet, watching movies and contacting loved ones through a pilot project that gives them access to tablet computers.

March 30, 2017 - US NEWS 

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Polk County Jail inmates are exploring the internet, watching movies and contacting loved ones through a pilot project that gives them access to tablet computers.

Telmate, a Fruitland, Idaho-based company, is providing 97 tablets free to the jail. The company owns them and collects from three to five cents a minute directly from the inmates' jail commissary accounts.

The inmates have spent about 30,000 minutes a day since the tablets were distributed to jail cellblocks March 9.

Roger Bretz Jr., 55, has used the tablets to stay in better touch with his loved ones on the outside.

"Before it was hard to get a hold of them because you had to call or write, if you could remember their phone numbers and addresses," Bretz said.

The assistant jail administrator, Cory Williams, says the inmates must follow jail rules if they want to maintain access to the tablets.

"Jail is somewhat boring," Williams said. "We try to provide as much of an educational piece that we can. This is another way we can do that."

The company says studies show the more inmates stay connected the less likely they are to reoffend. Victims' rights groups across the nation have raised concerns that internet-accessible devices could be used by inmates for illegal activities or to further harass or intimidate victims.

Inmates in segregated areas don't have access to tablets. These include inmates facing discipline, those in protective custody and those with medical conditions that require separation.

Correctional facilities around the country began experimenting with tablets as early as 2013. The Indiana Department of Corrections proposed equipping every inmate in the state with a tablet in January.

Iowa Department of Corrections spokeswoman Lettie Prell said the department is exploring the idea at the nine facilities it operates.