When Texas jails issue tablets, it comes at cost for inmates and families - A handful of Texas jails have issued electronic tablets to inmates. Counties can make money off their use.

@gAlienLifeform · 8 months ago

When Texas jails issue tablets, it comes at cost for inmates and families - A handful of Texas jails have issued electronic tablets to inmates. Counties can make money off their use.

@jpreston2005 · 8 months ago

Unlike prisons, which house convicted Texas felons, the majority of people in county jails are being held pre-trial, meaning they have not yet been convicted of the crime they were arrested for. Still, the amount of time people spend in jail can be significant. In Harris County, the average length of stay is nearly 200 days.

As the federal government clamps down on inmate phone call costs, the tablets provide prison technology companies with new sources of revenue from a captive customer.

A captive customer that hasn’t been found guilty of a crime.

Dystopia ain’t gonna dystop, I guess

@[email protected] · 8 months ago

I would call that cruel and unusual.

@barsquid · 8 months ago

It is certainly a violation of their 5th (due process) and 6th (speedy trial) Amendment rights.

@unreasonabro · 8 months ago

so is paying for jail but we’re past that too