GOING DIGITAL!!!!
In 2019 the Illinois Department of Corrections allowed inmates to purchase GTL tablets. These tablets have apps for games, newsfeed, E-Messages, phone calls, picture texts, video visits, movies, E-Books, grievance filing, health care correspondence, commissary orders, music streaming and more. IDOC only allows access to the E-Messages, E-Books, movies, music, games, newsfeed and Podcasts. While this may seem like a lot, it’s not. The E-Book app has no real books, the movie app cost $8.00 a day to stream movies 10 years and older, the Podcasts are old episodes on five or six Podcasts and the games are a waste.
The issue isn’t the apps offered but the ones that are not and the harm caused by it. Consider the following:
Grievance App- It’s been a long-standing complaint of the inmates that IDOC staff destroy the grievances that inmates file. They fish them out of the grievance box and screen them then throw them out if they don’t like the complaint. Even if security doesn’t throw them away sometimes the counselor does when they get them. The grievance app provides a time stamped paper trail that cannot be destroyed. This removes the excuse from IDOC personnel stating they never received the grievance. This is the only way to file complaints and be granted access to the courts if need be. Allowing inmates to file grievances on their tablets protects this process. Why is this important to you? Many of these prisoners will be released back to society. It will benefit us all greatly for these men to practice dealing with disputes, conflict issues in a civil manner, rather than the way their accustomed to doing it.
Telephone App- Many studies show that the more prisoners are in contact with loved ones the less likely they are to get out and return to prison. This also increases the contact with their children and other kids that see them as Father Figures. From there these men/women can deter these kids from following in their footsteps. Lastly and most importantly allowing every inmate to essentially have their own phone (through their tablet) has now become essential to their safety. The phone rates dropped from over $7.00 for 30 mins to over $4.00 for 30 mins down to approximately one cent per minute. At the same time, they start allowing inmates to purchase phone minutes at commissary which allows inmates to call people that don’t have accounts set up with the jail. This opens the door for all inmates to be able to call home. Ever since the rates dropped, inmates have been fighting over the phone constantly. In the MAX prisons like Stateville it’s 8 phones in each cellhouse being split amongst nearly 300 prisoners. Then when they go to the yard it’s 3-4 phones being split with over 30 inmates within 2.5 hours on the yard. In Menard it’s 8 phones being split amongst nearly 300 prisoners in the cell house and 5-6 phones being split with nearly 100 prisoners on the yards within 4 hours of recreation. In the medium and minimum prisons, it’s even worse. The phone issue has and still is causing riots in these prisons. Yet IDOC still refuses to activate the phone app on the tablets. In July 2021, IDOC informed the inmates they were switching to Jpay tablets and would be allowed to use the phone app., but they quickly reneged on their promise, citing a contract issue. If this is the case, IDOC shouldn’t be allowed to negotiate deals on inmate’s behalf that’s not in the best interest of the inmates. Making the phone app accessible is an easy fix to a huge problem that continues to persist.
Law Library App- IDOC installed 2-3 kiosks in every law library that allows inmates the ability to search for legal material. The kiosks make it much easier to find than it is to browse through the books in the library. At the kiosk you can search issues by words such as “murder”, “delivery”, “theft”, and a list of material pops up that can then be narrowed down until it fits the issue you are looking for. The problem is that it’s hard to get to the law library on a frequent basis. Then when you do get there, you have to share the kiosks with others. On average your given 15 mins per inmate on the kiosk. The solution to this problem would simply allow inmates to access the program on their tablet. With the significant amount of wrongfully convicted inmates in Illinois, allowing the app to be accessed on the tablet is a no-brainer.
Picture Texts, Video Visits and Video Messaging- Inmates in IDOC are still having photos sent by snail mail and when they do get them, they hold them in photo albums or loose in envelopes. One of the main tactics used by staff to harass inmates is to take or destroy their photos when their cells are being searched. In some areas where staff hang, the picture they’ve stolen from inmates hanging up for fun. The tablet has a feature that allows pictures to be sent and stored on the tablet, but it’s not activated. Another issue is the process of receiving photos and letters by snail mail. The Prisons in Illinois is having an issue with keeping synthetic drugs out of them. The liquid substance is applied to paper then mailed in undetected. The prison officials have been using flawed roadside test kits that give false positives and is resulting in innocent inmates being put in segregation. Staff is using it on pictures, letters and any mail being sent to an inmate. The process of trying to test all incoming mail and track down those trying to have synthetics sent in delays mail delivery by months at times. IDOC can easily rid the prisons of paper and make all mail digital. The tablets also have cameras on them to be used for video visits, but IDOC won’t allow video visits to be conducted on the tablets. Instead, they force the loved ones of inmates to race one another to schedule them in the few available slots weekly.
Health Care App- In many prisons in Illinois, the security staff interferes with the medical and mental health treatment of inmates regularly. To minimize the number of inmates they have to escort security throws away call passes and forge inmate’s signatures on refusal slips. Some health care and mental health staff refuse to record inmate’s complaints to duck civil liability later in court. This issue can be corrected by allowing inmates to use the health care app to record their complaints as well as know when they have appointments and accept/refuse them digitally.
We need your help getting the appropriate IDOC officials to either allow these apps to be activated on GTL tablets in IDOC or enter into a contract with a company that allows such to be accomplished. Rumor is IDOC doesn’t allow access to all GTL apps because the cost of installing the equipment to do so and the switch to Jpay was cancelled due to a contract issue.
IDOC shouldn’t be allowed to negotiate contracts on behalf of inmates that are binding even if the services aren’t in their best interest.
We need all of the signatures we can get in preparation for our protest for change. Please click on the link here and sign petition.
Thank you for your support,
LFC Management