When one becomes a prisoner, several of their rights are curtailed. But among those still standing is the right to communicate with their loved ones outside and the use of gadgets.
However, this right comes with certain limitations. If you have a loved one in prison and are wondering how to talk to them, this article will give you more insight into how prisoners communicate. You may also click here to learn more.
Prisoners Are Now Using Tablets to Communicate
In the past, prisoners communicated with their loved ones and lawyers through landlines. But not anymore. A prison contractor named JPay developed tablets called JP5mini which allow prisoners to send e-cards, emails, and videograms to their loved ones.
This is crucial in strengthening relationships between inmates and their loved ones. Aside from communication, the tablet lets inmates educate and entertain themselves, which is a plus.
To use the tablet, inmates have to purchase it. Of course, considering that most prisoners don’t have money, the responsibility of buying it falls on a loved one.
These tablets have great speed, graphics, computing power, and significant storage capacity. Correctional facilities can set their own rules on how to filter messages. This allows facilities to filter words like an escape, gang names, or any other word they find suspicious.
For high-risk inmates, their messages are screened manually. At the same time, inmates can’t abandon their tablets after misusing them. That’s because each tablet comes with the inmate’s information tagged on it electronically.
This also prevents theft. The tablet doesn’t mean that inmates can access Twitter and Facebook or Gmail and Yahoo. The device has its own secure operating system, which inmates can’t manipulate.
Making Phone Calls With a Person in Jail or Prison
Not all inmates will have the JP5 tablet. Does that mean they can’t talk to their loved ones? Not exactly. Communication is vital being prisoners want to feel the love and affection of loved ones.
One of the challenges that prisoners face when reentering society is reconnecting with their families. Prisoners who have been communicating with their loved ones have an easier time than those who haven’t. Here’s how phone calls work, whether in jail or state prisons.
Calls With a Person in Jail
In New York City, anyone in jail can make free calls to a loved one, whether serving a sentence or being held pre-trial. But these phone calls come with a limit. In a day, an inmate has the right to make calls for a period of 21 minutes. No one call can be longer than 15 minutes.
You can make calls every three hours as long as they don’t surpass your limit of 21 minutes. Prisoners held in punitive segregation are only allowed 15 minutes per day. Of course, there can also be limits on who a person can call while in custody. But this only happens after the person has been given a written notice.
Calls With a Person in Prison
People convicted of crimes don’t get free calls. In fact, phone call privileges can be restricted to even months or years. This usually happens if a prisoner is under administrative segregation or solitary confinement.
Prisoners can make collect calls to their loved ones as long as the people receiving those calls have an account with a particular phone provider. If you have a loved one in prison, you can set up an account with the service provider, making it easy for you to communicate with them.
Phone Calls in Jails and Prisons are Usually Monitored
Unfortunately, phone calls made between prisoners and the outside world get monitored. Anytime you are talking to a prisoner, keep the following in mind.
- Your calls are being monitored: This allows officials to identify certain phrases or words that can be a threat to national security or indicate criminal activity.
- Calls can be recorded and shared with law enforcers.
- The government maintains a database of voices for people making and receiving the calls.
- Third-party calls are illegal: Prisoners aren’t allowed to make third-party calls, and the system can easily detect such calls. This happens when the call recipient patches in a third party.
- Prison and jail officials can determine the exact location of the person receiving the phone call.
- Voice recognition allows prison and jail officials to identify and report all the voices heard in a call, including their names.
- There are certain calls that aren’t monitored. For instance, a state prisoner making a call to their attorney is considered confidential. Also, a prisoner talking to a rape crisis counselor is considered sensitive, hence not monitored.
While prisoners are allowed to use gadgets and make phone calls in prisons, certain rules apply. Finding out these rules or talking to an attorney can help you understand your rights much better.
