###

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

###

California transformed the way its prison population connects to the outside world by handing every incarcerated person an electronic tablet to make free calls, receive messages and access other services.

Suddenly, incarcerated people could exchange text messages in real time with family and friends from inside their cells, albeit for a price.

“I had never used a smartphone or anything like that before. So having this, having basically a phone in your cell with you, that opened up a whole new world of possibilities,” said C. Webb, who has been incarcerated at High Desert State Prison since 2010 and received a tablet a few years ago.

But today, the entire system with almost 90,000 prisoners is in the midst of a disruptive switch to new tablets from a new vendor. The project is months behind schedule, which temporarily resulted in increased text messaging charges for consumers at the first prison facility where it became fully implemented.

The changes follow a legal battle and subsequent bidding war between the two national companies that provide these services, Securus and Viapath/Global Tel Link. Securus came out ahead, claiming the four-year $189 million contract and replacing Viapath.

As national competitors, Securus and Viapath control the overwhelming majority of the incarcerated telecommunications market. Securus holds contracts with over 3,400 prisons and jails. Viapath operates in almost 2,000.

Securus devices were supposed to be in every prison by the end of last year. Instead, most California prisons still operate with Viapath tablets and are not expected to switch over until later this spring.

Securus makes money when prisoners participate in video calls, stream shows or text someone. Its contract showed it would charge less for those services than Viapath.

But incarcerated people and their outside contacts at the first prison to receive Securus tablets quickly discovered a discrepancy in how the company described the charges they’d pay when sending text messages on its tablets.

An EVOTAB tablet for use in correctional facilities by Securus Technologies. Images via Securus Technologies

Prisoners and their loved ones believed the company would charge 3 cents per message under its contract. But they discovered the messages cost more than that, seemingly because of a previously undisclosed pricing scheme based on character count.

This month, after prisoners and advocates complained about the charges and CalMatters asked questions about the fees, Securus quietly corrected its billing practice to reflect what was stated in the original contract, with the cost of messages at 3 cents. It also issued every person at the California Institution for Women in Chino a $10 credit.

The company did not respond to repeated requests for comment from CalMatters.

It stands to make a windfall through its entertainment platform fees even after adjusting the charges for messages.

“All of the new movies, the ones that you would actually want to watch, you rent each of them individually,” said Grace Coleman, who is incarcerated at the women’s prison in Chino. “For example, Wicked: For Good is $8.99 — and once you hit play, you only have 48 hours to watch it.

“They’re making bank. These are like normal world prices.”

Incarcerated people tend to not make normal world wages. Most are paid less than 74 cents an hour for the jobs they hold in prison.

For expenses greater than that, loved ones or friends can place money into their prison account.

Coleman described the prison’s adoption of Securus devices as clunky.

“It’s been on and off,” she said. “The Wi-Fi keeps going out. Even the landlines have been going down. They keep having to come over here to fix it.”

Inmates walk on the prison grounds of the California Institution for Women, in Chino, on Feb. 15, 2024. Photo by Jules Hotz for CalMatters

Bianca Tylek, founder of advocacy organization Worth Rises and author of The Prison Industry: How It Works and Who Profits, has monitored Securus and Viapath for her work.

“These transitions are annoying and have a lot of hiccups,” said Tylek. “Both these companies are kind of shoddy. They aren’t creating the priority out of the issues that they should because they think people don’t care about people who are incarcerated.”

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation website says the change to Securus will ultimately reduce costs to incarcerated people and their families for tablet services like e-messages, shared photos and video calls. It will also reduce costs to the state, which foots the bill for the incarcerated population’s outgoing phone calls.

“I do not believe that one company is better than the other,” said Tylek. “But for the communication services, this is probably one of the best contracts out there. California has among the best rates for phone calls, video calls, and electronic messaging.”

Hidden cost

California is one of only five states to cover the expense of phone calls by incarcerated people.

Securus charges the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation less for such calls than Viapath, which was key to Securus winning the contract.

“This is a huge nationwide issue,” said Sen. Josh Becker, who in 2022 wrote the law that mandated and subsidized the zero-charge incarcerated calls. “I’m grateful that we’re leading now in California, at least on the phone call piece.”

Becker, a Democrat whose district includes Menlo Park, has his sights set on passing more legislation this year to make e-messaging free also.

“It’s the injustice of the whole thing,” said Becker. “And not only injustice, but also the illogical nature of charging in a world where telecommunications costs are moving closer to free.”

He said his office is keeping a close eye on the Securus contract and how it goes about charging consumers.

Coleman said everyone around her in her unit was immersed in the new media packages offered by Securus.

“Right now, people are happy. When people start seeing their bills of how much money they’re spending to watch these movies and stuff, it could be different.”

‘It helps the overall environment’

Before the introduction of the tablets, an outside person would need to set up a prepaid phone account before calls could be accepted.

“Depending on where you were calling, the cost was pretty substantial,” said Webb. “I called Georgia one time and it was like $27 for 10 minutes.”

Making a call could become tense and even dangerous at times, too, because of limited access to phones.

“We only had four pay phones for the whole building — four phones for 175 to 200 people,” said Webb. “I’ve seen numerous fights and people brutally stabbed over the phone — for like using someone else’s phone time or going two minutes over.”

Most people inside — both staff and residents — noticed a different vibe within the community once every person had access to their own assigned device. They said it made prisons feel safer with incarcerated people no longer needing to navigate the difficulties of sharing limited phone resources, and officers no longer spending time facilitating an ill-equipped phone system.

“Anything you can do to increase the amount of contact someone can have with their family and their loved ones is going to result in better outcomes for most people,” said newly-retired California prison facilities director Dave Lewis.

And because the tablets offer 24-hour access to educational platforms and media services, they immediately improved how prisoners can make use of their time.

“Just the sheer boredom of being locked up can lead to poorer safety outcomes for people,” said Lewis. “Giving someone something to do on a more regular basis — even just being able to watch a movie on a tablet — it helps the overall environment of an institution and takes away that downtime that can be kind of dangerous.”

Loss of personal data

Incarcerated tablet users worry most about two aspects of the switch from Viapath to Securus: disruptions in service as their facility transitions and losing access to the personal photos, videos and messages they’ve received over the last three years.

An interim contract with Viapath remains in effect until transition is complete. Part of the delays and setbacks from last November can be attributed to an effort to maintain smooth, continued service.

Most facilities are telling their residents they will be turning in their old devices for a same day exchange to the new tablets, and that the Securus platform will be immediately up and running at that time.

But none of the personal data or streaming subscriptions will transfer over. The transition to Securus will mean resetting everything and starting anew.

Viapath does not offer a way to store or save the data to a separate electronic medium. Without direct internet access, prisoners cannot use cloud-based services like Dropbox or Google Drive.

They are being given only one option. At their own cost per page, they can submit photos and messages to be printed before the Viapath tablets become defunct. After that, it all becomes permanently unavailable.

“Losing all my pictures and videos is gonna be tragic,” said Webb.