There are a number of interesting aspects to this deployment of new communications technologies in the Oregon state prison system. First, MP3 players will be able to receive text messages and photos. Also, for the first time, inmates can be contacted from the outside by phone. Family and others can leave a voice mail of up to three minutes on the prison payphone system. Wouldn’t a secure prison cell phone solution that uses a single device for music, photos, text messages, outbound and inbound calls (with no maximum time limit), voice mail and even video visitation be more efficient than multiple devices, platforms, and kiosks?

Most Oregon inmates are finding it cheaper to phone home, and state officials hope they burn up the lines.

Flat-rate calls are part of a wave of new technology rolling out in the state’s 14 prisons. Starting this week, the state’s 14,200 inmates can buy MP3 players to receive text messages and photos, and to buy and store music. Another system will enable them to “video visit” families who are often hundreds of miles away.

State Corrections Department officials expect the technology to drive down recidivism and cut prison costs that now consume nearly a dime of every dollar in the state’s general fund budget. Studies show inmates who have outside contact are less likely to commit new crimes once they are freed.

“We know scientifically that visiting is good not just in order to create safe prisons,” said Colette Peters, director of the Oregon Department of Corrections. “It actually improves public safety and prevents future victimization.”

The system won’t cost taxpayers. The contractor, Telmate of Ontario, will cover equipment costs. Inmates and their contacts will split service costs. The Corrections Department will continue to collect commissions on the phone system totaling $3 million a year, which it spends on inmate programs.

Prison workers, able to contact inmates directly through voice or text messages, expect to save time.

“This enhances our productivity tremendously in ways we couldn’t ever use tax money to fund. The cost would be prohibitive,” said Kelley Morton, a Corrections Department policy manager. “This is very good for the taxpayers and DOC.”

Under the new phone system, launched July 1, inmates in Oregon prisons pay a flat rate for domestic calls. That raised the cost for local calls. But now a call from the big prison in Ontario to Portland or Eugene costs $4.80 for a 30-minute chat, down from $15.85. Inmates and their families deposit money to cover the calls and can pay online through Telmate in addition to paying by mail or in person.

For the first time, inmates can be contacted from the outside by phone. Family and others can leave a voice mail of up to three minutes. Experience elsewhere shows messages don’t sit for long.

“The average length of time for a voice mail to be picked up is a couple of hours. And no one is telling them they have a message,” said Christopher Ditto, Telmate marketing director.

Video visits are expected to be another popular feature with inmates. The online chats are scheduled, and the outside contact pays the fee. The service starts next month in the two most remote prisons — Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario and Warner Creek Correctional Facility in Lakeview.

Prison officials are most eager to get Snake River online. It’s the state’s largest prison with nearly 3,000 inmates — most from the west side of Oregon. To visit in person, many families have to drive six or more hours.

Inmate Brian K. Yancy, 35, convicted in 2005 in Jackson County of robbery and assault, served five years at Snake River. He saw his wife and three children three to four times a year because they faced a 10-hour drive from their home in northern Nevada. Two years ago, he was transferred to the Lakeview prison, still a three-hour drive one way.

The new video visiting “is going to benefit us a lot,” Yancy said. “When the weather’s bad, you worry about your family traveling through the mountains. And the economy isn’t too good.”

Yancy said he’s especially eager to see his children, even online, on a monthly basis. “The kids can see me more often, and it will be like having both their parents around.”

He said he expects the video visits to improve connections with his wife. “You can talk on the phone, but it’s hard to have a relationship when you can’t see that person,” Yancy said.

The Oregon Corrections Department transformation is Telmate’s largest. The company has converted county jails across the country, and two years ago rewired the state prisons in Montana.

Dale Tunnell, investigations chief at the Montana Corrections Department, said inmates made dramatically more calls. “They think it’s great,” he said.

The system also gives prison officials a new investigative tool. All calls, chats and messages are recorded, and state investigators can analyze patterns. “We’ve made some really good cases involving contraband,” Tunnell said.

Oregon officials expect the same bonus. Call information “is very valuable for looking for patterns of extortion, theft, that kind of thing,” Morton said. Inmates also will be limited to “corrections-friendly” music downloads.

Peters, the Corrections Department director, said the new technology should especially help the 59 percent of Oregon inmates who get no visitors. Inmates with outside contact behave better in prison and perform better when released, she said.

A landmark study of Minnesota inmates found that “any visit reduced the risk of recidivism by 13 percent for felony reconvictions and 25 percent for technical violation revocations.”

Prisoners also will have better social media skills when they leave, Morton said. “When inmates get out, they often face a radically different world,” Morton said. “If we can give them an opportunity to practice, this might help them be better prepared for doing online banking, and that that’s how people communicate now — little bits of information.”

How much to stay in touch?

Inmate costs*
MP3 player: 4G, $120; 8G, $140. Inmates can get a $25 rebate if they turn in a CD player, which can be converted into an illicit tattoo gun.
Domestic calls: 16 cents a minute, with 30-minute maximum ($4.80)
International calls: 50 cents a minute, with 30-minute maximum ($15)
Music download: $1.75 a song

Cost to others
Video visit: 66 cents a minute, with 30-minute maximum ($19.80)
Text message to inmate MP3: 44 cents; discounts for multiple messages
Photo to inmate MP3: 60 cents
Details: telmate.com
* Others can deposit money to cover these.

Source

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An article about the deployment of email and other electronic services via kiosks in prisons in Singapore. The problem with the use of kiosks is that you create the same access, prisoner movement, and queuing issues that currently exist with prison payphones. The meshDETECT secure prison cell phone is a much more efficient and cost effective means to deploy and deliver electronic content to detainees.

Corresponding with family members electronically, instead of using pen and paper, could soon become a reality for prison inmates here.

Over the next few years, the prison authorities are exploring the option of allowing inmates to type out their letters, which will then be sent by the prison staff to the intended recipients via an electronic portal – as part of its plans to move with the times and tap on technology to enhance the rehabilitation process for the inmates.

Singapore Prison Service Senior Assistant Director (Technology) Kuai Ser Leng said: “I tell the staff … I don’t even write letters anymore – when is the last time you wrote letters with pen and paper?

“Almost consistently, they tell me the same answer (that) they can’t remember the last time they wrote a letter. We email, we use SMS, we use Whatsapp these days.”

Apart from allowing inmates to go paperless while corresponding with the world outside, the prison authorities are also exploring ideas such as giving the inmates access to e-books and e-learning opportunities.

Currently, family members of inmates can book visits online. One project that has already been successfully piloted is the use of self-service kiosks, via which prisoners can submit their requests such as longer visiting time and a change in diet. Previously, inmates convey their requests verbally to their prison supervisors.

The inmates can also use the kiosks to track the status of their requests or check the availability of new courses.

To build rapport between prison officers and the inmates, a mobile device is also available for the officers to, for instance, access instantly the bio-data of an inmate instead of having to check it on the computer in the office.

On the device, Senior Prison Officer Roy Phang said: “It allows us to find out more about the inmates immediately as they could be new admissions. We are also able to key in observations at the point where we observe certain behavioural changes in the inmates.”

Mr Kuai told TODAY that there are plans to increase the features of the self-service kiosks, including allowing inmates to check on their privileges.

The prison authorities saw the use of the kiosks as an opportunity for inmates to familiarise themselves with technology – which would also help them assimilate back into society upon their release.

Singapore After-Care Association Director Prem Kumar welcomed the adoption of technology in the prisons.

Not only does it increase efficiency, it also empowers the inmates, Mr Kumar said. “As long there is an effort to outreach and empower those who are not tech savvy, that will be ideal.”

The prison authorities are also tapping on technology to improve the security of the premises.

Currently, there are thousands of surveillance cameras installed at Changi Prison Complex. The authorities are studying the use of video content analysis to detect abnormal behaviour exhibited by the inmates by incorporating video intelligence into the existing surveillance system.

They are also looking to use audio analytics to act as ears on the ground to detect aggressive voices. This could provide early warning to the staff for appropriate intervention.

Source

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This decision is interesting for a number of reasons. First, it acknowledges that implementing in prison the technologies that are in common use outside of prison can reduce contraband, improve detainee behavior and guard safety; all while raising revenue for the DOC. We believe the meshDETECT secure cell phone service will accomplish the same goals. However, using our secure cell phones to access email or MP3s is operationally much more efficient and cost effective by not requiring expensive kiosks or detainees to leave their cells to access the services.

NHDOC Officials: Email Will Cut Down On Contraband From Snail Mail

The New Hampshire Department of Corrections said on Monday it had gone into business with a St. Louis-based company to provide inmates with access to email and downloadable music.

Corrections officials said the Keefe Commissary Network caters to the needs of its incarcerated clients.

“The (company) provides kiosks where inmates can access email and they can access things such as downloadable music,” said Jeff Lyons, of the NHDOC.

The company said it sells see-through MP3 players and other devices to the inmates directly for as much as $130 — 10 percent of which goes into the NHDOC’s recreation fund to pay for other inmate activities.

Corrections officials said the email component will cut down on traditional mail, and as a result, contraband coming into the facility will also decrease.

“(The amount of paper mail coming in) and things that are stuffed into envelopes or hidden under stamps or things like that will decrease,” Lyons said. “This will give us the ability to monitor the current mail that’s going out and coming in.”

However, officials said inmates will still not have access to most of the Internet.

“The (program) is just another tool that we can use to enhance safety, at the same time giving the inmates activity they can do when they are not in their programs and treatment,” Lyons said.

The program received mixed reactions from the public.

“If there is a benefit for the (inmates) in the way of an improvement, I would agree with it. But at this point in time, I can’t see it,” said Andover resident Harvey Best.

“(Email and downloadable music) seem like a privilege the common man may not have, so I don’t see why a prisoner would be able to have it,” said Concord resident Laura Jones.

The NHDOC said there is no cost to the taxpayer for the program.

Source

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