They Bought Tablets in Prison—and Found a Broken Promise

A Bureau of Prisons spokesperson reportedly issued a statement in October 2022 confirming that it was “in the process of introducing the Keefe Score 7c tablet into federal institutions, offering it for sale through the commissaries at a cost of $118.” Initially, the bureau said, the tablets could only be used for music downloads and movie rentals on a pay-per-download model. Keefe, though, said on its website that purchasers will be able to use the tablet to communicate “with loved ones using fee-based text, photo, and video-gram messaging.”

Yet, in our reporting we got in contact with nearly 30 federal prisons and didn’t find a single facility that allowed messaging or phone calls on the Keefe Score 7c tablets. We also spoke with more than a hundred federally incarcerated people and their loved ones and couldn’t find a single incarcerated person able to use the phone call, video chat, or messaging functions on their Keefe SCORE 7c tablets.

Several incarcerated folks told WIRED they wouldn’t have purchased the Keefe SCORE 7c tablet had they known the messaging functions would be disabled.

Archived at web.archive.org/…/electronic-tablets-in-federal-p…

Norgur,

And literally everything on this tablet has the most expensive way to bill behind it: pay per view, pay per text message, pay per Video call, pay per everything. Aren't prisoners in the US charged ridiculous sums for every aspect of their incarceration already?

It's probably a good thing that calls are disabled. Less chances for prisoners to be forced into even more poverty just for following human urges like talking to loved ones.

Ghostalmedia,
@Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world avatar

Instead of buying a Keefe Score 7c for $120, it’s probably just better to buy a smuggled phone from Keefe in the yard.

originalucifer,
@originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com avatar

the united states doesnt believe in rehabilitation. its a system of revenge.

when viewed through the correct light, it all makes sense.. if it doesnt make you sick first.

KillerTofu,

And profit! Don’t forget profit!

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

That’s more to the point. Slavery was never made illegal, it was institutionalized. Literally.

yeahiknow3,

Nothing will change until the rich are brought to heel. Nothing.

DaddleDew,

They’ve figured out that they make more money if their inmates don’t rehabilitate a long time ago.

yeahiknow3,

I think profit is even more central to the system than punishment. If the powers that be could make money rehabilitating inmates instead of enslaving them they would. Punishment almost makes sense if people were making these decisions. But there are no people in the chain of authority. Only insects obsessed with turning their victims into profits.

Aurenkin,

There’s a mass without roofs

There’s a prison to fill

There’s a countries soul that reads ‘post no bills’

There’s a strike and a line of cops outside of the mill

There’s a right to obey and a right to kill

captainlezbian,

That fails to acknowledge that we also see prisons as hubs of desperate suckers who will do anything and can demand nothing

disguy_ovahea,

At the average rate of $0.62 per hour, a prisoner could make enough to buy a tablet in as little as five weeks, assuming they didn’t buy toothpaste, shampoo, or any other commissary items for that period. After all that, they find out they were defrauded with no way to return it.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • news@lemmy.world
  • DreamBathrooms
  • mdbf
  • InstantRegret
  • Durango
  • Youngstown
  • rosin
  • slotface
  • thenastyranch
  • osvaldo12
  • ngwrru68w68
  • kavyap
  • cisconetworking
  • khanakhh
  • magazineikmin
  • provamag3
  • cubers
  • vwfavf
  • modclub
  • everett
  • ethstaker
  • Leos
  • tacticalgear
  • normalnudes
  • tester
  • GTA5RPClips
  • anitta
  • megavids
  • JUstTest
  • All magazines
    •