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Pay-for-Play Tablets: The Costly New Prison Paradigm

Loaded on March 1, 2025 published in Prison Legal News March, 2025, page 1
Filed under: Food/Commissary (Private Prisons), Electronic Tablets, Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Telephone Rates, Tapes/Music, Securus, Global Tel*Link Corp. Location: United States of America.

Historically, prisons and jails have been loathe to give prisoners access to technology. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) didn’t even allow prisoners regular access to telephone calls until 2009. Access to internet-based services, which the non-incarcerated take for granted, is also forbidden by prison officials who cite vaguely-expressed ...

 

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More from this issue:

  1. Pay-for-Play Tablets: The Costly New Prison Paradigm
  2. From the Editor, by Paul Wright
  3. No Evacuations for Los Angeles Prisoners in Wildfire’s Path
  4. Number of Texas Detainees Jailed Out-of-County Doubled in Five Years
  5. Nebraska Supreme Court Spanks Attorney General, Orders Felons Be Allowed to Vote
  6. Warden, Top Deputy Walked Off the Job at “Wild West” Missouri Prison
  7. Ninth Circuit Revives Lawsuit Over Arizona Prisoner’s Heat-Related Death
  8. Crime Down But Incarceration Up In Tennessee
  9. Four Escapes in Eight Months from Oklahoma Jail
  10. Michigan Judge Sued for Jailing Teen Who Nodded Off While Watching in Court
  11. Virginia Parole Board Skirts New Transparency Rules, Governor Walks Back Expanded Sentence Credits—Again
  12. Ninth Circuit Remands Transgender Idaho Prisoner’s $2.63 Million Attorney Fee Award for Recalculation— Against Bankrupt Corizon Health Successor
  13. $25.75 Million for Exonerated North Carolina Prisoner’s 44 Stolen Years
  14. Former Vermont Sheriff Takes Plea Deal in Sexual Assault Case
  15. Not Just Another Shared House: North Carolina Farm Eases Re-entry for Released Prisoners
  16. Illinois Lawmaker Asks State Prison Guards to Report Immigrant Prisoners Nearing Release—to Her
  17. “Lady al-Qaeda” Sues BOP for Guards’ Sexual Assaults
  18. Former California Guard Convicted On 64 Counts of Sexually Abusing Prisoners
  19. The Grift That Keeps on Giving: $33 Million for State Prisons Generated by Seized Native Land
  20. Deal to Release Cuban Prisoners Upended
  21. Fourth Circuit Reverses Denial of Counsel for “Low IQ” North Carolina Prisoner, by Anthony Accurso
  22. $100,000 Settlement Reached in New York Prisoner’s Solitary Confinement Suit, After Jury for First Time Finds Practice Violates Eighth Amendment, by Douglas Ankney
  23. “Happy Mother’s Day”: $1,353,000 Settlement Approved for Migrant Parents Separated from Minor Kids at Border, by Matthew Clarke
  24. Released Palestinian Detainees Allege Abuse in Israeli Prisons
  25. Minnesota High Court Restores Voting Rights of Former Felons
  26. Over 100,000 Criminal Records Sealed Under Colorado’s “Clean Slate Act”
  27. Ninth and Tenth Circuits Find Bivens Extension Orders Not Immediately Appealable, by Sam Rutherford
  28. ABA Highlights Ohio Prisoner’s Successful Transition to Lawyer
  29. HRDC Files Suit Over Censorship in California Jail
  30. Suboxone Manufacturer’s Delayed-Release Buprenorphine Injections Show Promise at Maine Jail
  31. DOJ Finds “Horrific and Inhumane” Conditions in Georgia Prisons, by Matthew Clarke
  32. Mayhem, Murder and Staff Misconduct at Brooklyn BOP Lockup
  33. Biden Clemencies Include Imprisoned Native American Activist, “Kids for Cash” Judge
  34. Rhode Island Prison Chief Wrist-Slapped for Ethics Violation
  35. U.S. Justice Department Investigating Tennessee CoreCivic Prison After Mother of Murdered Prisoner Reaches Settlement
  36. Federal Withdrawal of Single-Drug Execution Protocol Follows Challenges in Indiana, Arizona
  37. Trump Tosses Toothless Biden Private Prison “Ban”
  38. Sixth West Virginia Jailer Found Guilty After Detainee Death, Estate Dismisses Claims Against PrimeCare Medical Employees
  39. $10.5 Million in Settlements for San Diego Jail Detainee’s Severe Brain Injury
  40. Settlement Bars Family Separations at U.S. Border Until 2031, Pays $6.4 Million in Legal Fees and Costs
  41. Trans Federal Prisoner in Massachusetts Wins Temporary Halt to Trump Order Removing Her From Women’s Lockup
  42. Pennsylvania County Forgives $65 Million in Jail Pay-to-Stay Fees
  43. Failures Brought to Light in Arizona Prison System’s COVID-19 Response
  44. El Salvador Offers Prison Space to Private Prison Shill Marco Rubio
  45. Hawaii Supreme Court Revives Exonerated Prisoner’s Quest for First Payout From Wrongful Conviction Fund
  46. Houston Police Fire Former Jail Guard Filmed Brutalizing Detainees, Charges Against Three Other Guards Dropped
  47. South Carolina Prison Guard Supervisor Pleads Guilty to Smuggling, Bribery
  48. Sixth Circuit Upholds $6.4 Million Jury Award Against Corizon Nurses For Michigan Jail Prisoner’s Fatal Alcohol Withdrawal, by Matthew Clarke
  49. En Banc Fifth Circuit Reverses Panel, Holds Mississippi Felon Disenfranchisement Does Not Violate Eighth Amendment, by Matthew Clarke
  50. More Unsealed PrimeCare Settlements Total $1.2 Million for Pennsylvania Jail Deaths
  51. $1.5 Million Settlement For In-Custody Injury by New York Police
  52. Federal Charges Dropped Against Former Centurion Exec After Death of Co-Defendant Former Tennessee Prison Official
  53. ‘Eye Opening’ Self-Harm Found in Washington DOC Solitary Confinement
  54. Seventh Circuit Reverses Denial of Class Certification in Suit Over Inadequate Dental Care at Chicago Jail
  55. Eighth Circuit Affirms Denial of Qualified Immunity to Arkansas Jailers Who Ignored Detainee’s Spider Bite, by Anthony Accurso
  56. Washington Prisoner Sues Jail Where Assault Left Him Comatose, DOC Guard Who Then Sexually Abused Him
  57. Federal Court Lets BOP Withhold Mortality Reviews Under FOIA
  58. California Lawmakers Address CDCR’s Banned Book List
  59. New Mexico Settles Suit Alleging Failure To Implement Expanded Voting For Felons, by Anthony Accurso
  60. Could the Prison Staffing Crisis Lead to More Oversight?
  61. News in Brief
  62. New York Guards Strike After 10 Charged in Prisoner’s Fatal Beating

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