By Andy Davis
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas prison inmates would be able to receive - but not send - e-mails, possibly with photographs attached, under a proposal being considered by the Board of Corrections today.
Under the pilot project proposed by the state Department of Correction, people who pay a small fee would be able to send electronic messages to inmates at the Grimes and McPherson units in Newport. Correction Department employees would print out the messages and screen them before delivering them to the inmates.
At least initially, inmates who wanted to respond would have to do so the old-fashioned way, with a letter sent through the U.S. Postal Service. But the department is also exploring the possibility of adding the capability for inmates to send e-mails that would be screened by corrections officers before they go out.
Correction Department spokesman Dina Tyler said the system could help improve security by creating an electronic record of inmates’ correspondence and reducing the volume of traditional mail that must be checked for contraband, such as drugs or cash hidden in envelopes. It could also help inmates keep in touch with their loved ones outside prison walls, she said.
“It is difficult enough to come to prison, but to come to prison without any contact with your family is heads and shoulders more difficult,” Tyler said. “Plus, if they maintain good ties with their family, when they go back home, they won’t be as likely to re-offend.” At its meeting at the Southwest Arkansas Community Corrections Center in Texarkana today, the Corrections Board will vote on whether to solicit proposals from companies to set up the system as a pilot project at the two prisons.
The company selected will be responsible for all of the costs, including providing the equipment and establishing an Internet connection via a satellite link.
In exchange, the company will be able to charge senders a small fee, which the department hopes to keep at or under the price of a first-class postage stamp, which is now 44 cents.
The system would flag “buzzwords,” such as words related to contraband smuggling or other illicit activity, helping corrections officers to identify suspicious messages, said Sheila Sharp, the department’s assistant director for administrative services.
The system would also screen for vulgarity, pornography and other prohibited content.
If the project is successful, it could be expanded to other prisons, Sharp said. Eventually, the department could also set up electronic kiosks where inmates could read and send emails that would be screened by corrections officers before they are sent out. The kiosks could also allow inmates access to other information, such as the amount of money in their accounts and the time remaining on their sentences.
“We’re just in the visionary stages on that,” Sharp said.
Because of security concerns, Arkansas inmates do not have access to the Internet and can use computers only for certain purposes, such as class work, Tyler said.
Several other states already have e-mail systems for inmates, as do many federal prisons. In Texas, senders pay 44 cents per page and an additional 44 cents for each attachment.
As with the system Arkansas is considering, inmates receive printouts of the e-mails and cannot send e-mails in response.
The system, run by Miami, Fla.,-based Jpay Inc., is in place in 75 of the state’s 113 prisons and state-run jails and is being expanded to all the facilities in the system, said Jason Clark, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
“It’s been a smooth process thus far,” Clark said.
Jean Thrash, chief executive officer of the Arkansas chapter of Citizens United For The Rehabilitation Of Errants, said the system sounds like a good idea, as long as the fees are low. Her group has pushed for years to lower the fees Arkansas inmates must pay to make phone calls. Currently, the fee for a 15-minute call is $4.80 for a call to a number in Arkansas and $10.70 for a call to an out-of-state number.
“There will be those family members that do have computers, and it would be a less expensive way for them to communicate, certainly,” Thrash said. “Off the top of my head, I don’t see a downside to it.”
Copyright 2009 Little Rock Newspapers, Inc.