[V_TWIN]

“Inmates aren’t allowed personal phones or computers”

Well, that’s not exactly accurate.....in my state anyway.

As a prison ministry volunteer I saw the DOC provide tablets to qualified inmates.....however that privilege was closely monitored and restricted, and video conferencing like the one detailed here would absolutely not be allowed.

[mass55th]

I worked in uniform in NY State's prison system for 25 years. I retired in 2003. If NY State has allowed inmates to have tablets, then the system has gone drastically downhill, and I'm glad I retired when I did. They reward them with toys, and end up making it harder for prison staff to enforce the rules. Back in 2018, Idaho inmates took advantage of a vulnerability in their personal notebooks to credit themselves with hundreds of thousands of dollars in credits. An investigation showed more than 360 inmates hacked into the JPay system to increase their account balances by nearly $225,000 in credits. Inmates might not be able to read and write, but they can figure out how to scam the system. After all, they have 24 hours a day to come up with ideas to do just that.

The fact that Correction Officers are on strike in New York State tells me that NYDOCS has gone to hell. Cuomo, and now Hochul have closed multiple prisons around NY State, bouncing inmates and staff across the State, while kicking other inmates out before they've completed their court-ordered sentences. They can't get anybody to take the C.O. test anymore, and have been making uniformed staff work 24 hour shifts because of staff shortages, which is insane.

The other thing the NY State Legislature did was pass The Halt Act to keep any disciplined inmate from being in special housing for more than 14 days, thus putting aggressive, and non-compliant inmates right back into general population. That's no different than NY State D.A.'s, Attorney Generals, and Judges releasing repeat violent offenders right back onto the street so they can quickly reoffend again. Instead of punishing bad behavior, they are rewarding it, and putting the life of prison staff in danger.