That scene in a movie where an inmate is offered a phone call and some visits as the means to communicate with the outside world is long gone now. Prisoners will be using tablets to connect to the outside world, including one from JPay, called the JP5mini.
This device, that’s very well secured as the image above shows allows prisoners to listen to music, educate themselves and email their family and friends. The concept behind this product is that communication with the loved ones can enhance skills and relationships and reintegrate the prisoners into society after release. Around 60,000 units of the JP4, the predecessor of the JP5mini are being used in 11 states.
The JP5 mini has been adopted by correctional facilities in Idaho and New Jersey. This new slate is superior when it comes to graphics, computing power and brings 32 GB of storage, which is four times more than the predecessor. Inmates are able to purchase one such device for $69.99, from a kiosk in their facility, or have someone purchase it for them.
JPay also allows prisons to create guidelines for filtering messages to the outside word. For example words like “escape”, gang names or slang are all banned. Inmates of a certain threat level aren’t granted tablets obviously. The bootloader included on the slates is secure, so no other OS can be installed and the custom Android can’t be manipulated. Keep in mind there’s no Internet access, aside from the wireless connections enabled by the facility.
