3-14-2009 Nevada:
Nevada lawmakers advanced a plan Thursday that would allow some state prison inmates — who lost the use of personal typewriters starting in 2007 — limited access to the Internet.
Currently, inmates can't use the Internet but have access to electronic library materials on CD-ROMs. Under AB34, they could get e-mail from approved senders, take online classes and access an electronic law library. They also could videoconference with state Parole Board commissioners for hearings, virtually visit with doctors and buy items such as digital music files.
The bill, which provides for monitoring of all e-mail traffic by prison staffers, was advanced to the full Assembly by the Committee on Corrections, Parole and Probation.
The plan is to set up kiosks where inmates could access incoming e-mails from approved senders and download MP3 digital files for a price. State Corrections Director Howard Skolnik said that secure types of kiosks are available on the market and used in prisons in other states.
"It's the new technology," said Skolnik. "We are aware of at least 14 states that have already implemented this type of programming. It's bringing us into the 21st century, and I think the 21st century is a good place to be."
"We'll be making sure that everything we need to protect the system will be in place," Skolnik said.
The committee vote on the bill was 10-4. The opponents, all Republican, who questioned whether the change could impact prison security, included Assemblymen Ty Cobb of Reno, John Hambrick of Las Vegas, Don Gustavson of Sparks and Richard McArthur of Las Vegas.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada had proposed several amendments, including one stating that access to electronic technology shouldn't replace inmates' existing rights to in-person contact with attorneys.
But the attorney general's office opposed those amendments, saying that prisoners' rights to visitation are carefully controlled by the prison, and warning that to include language in the bill that says the state shouldn't interfere with "existing visitation rights" could lead to a slew of lawsuits.
"I've always been under the understanding that your access to your attorney is a right," said Assemblyman William Horne, D-Las Vegas.
Deputy Attorney General Janet Trout said that in some cases, inmates' constitutional rights have to be severely curtailed.
"The department certainly does restrict visitation to certain individuals even if it's family members," Trout said. "We recognize this is one of the most risky parts of their business." ..News Source.. by CATHY BUSSEWITZ
March 14, 2009
NV- Inmate Internet access plan advances
August 19, 2008
Federal Prisons Offer Inmates Limited E-mail Access
8-19-2008 National:
The secure system is expected to be in use at all facilities by 2011.
MIAMI When Melvin Garcia was sent to prison almost a decade ago for racketeering, he had never used a computer. Now he sends 50 e-mails a month from a federal prison in West Virginia, punctuating notes with emoticons.
Garcia, 38, is among thousands of prisoners at more than 20 federal facilities where inmates now have inboxes.
By the spring of 2011, all 114 U.S. prisons are expected to have e-mail available for inmates.
The program, started several years ago, has reduced the amount of old-fashioned paper mail that can sometimes hide drugs and other contraband. Just as important, officials say, e-mail helps prisoners connect regularly with their families and build skills they can use when they return to the community.
For Garcia, that means learning the computer.
"LET'S JUST SAY THAT MY PREVIOUS EMPLOYMENT DIDN'T REQUIRE IT :o)," he joked in a recent e-mail.
The system inmates use isn't like programs used in most offices and homes. Inmates aren't given Internet access, and all messages are sent in plain text, with no attachments allowed. Potential contacts get an e-mail saying a federal prisoner wants to add them to their contact list and must click a link to receive e-mail, similar to accepting a collect call from a lockup.
Once approved, prisoners can only send messages to those contacts - they can't just type in any address and hit send. And contacts can change their mind at any time and take their name off the prisoner's list.
Scott Middlebrooks, the warden at Coleman federal prison northwest of Orlando, said his inmates sent more than 3,200 messages and received some 2,800 a day last month through the system, which is called TRULINCS and run by Iowa-based Advanced Technologies Group Inc.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons says the system pays for itself with some of the proceeds from prison commissaries. Inmates also pay 5 cents per minute while composing or reading e-mails.
Security, of course, is a concern. That's why the messages can be screened for keywords that suggest an inmate may be involved in a crime, or read by a corrections officer, just like paper letters. That can create some lag time between when messages are sent and received.
Without analyzing the program specifically, it would be impossible to tell whether inmates could abuse their e-mail privileges, said Bruce Schneier of the security firm BT Counterpane. Coded messages could be sent over e-mail, but that could happen just as easily over the phone, he said.
Despite possible delays for security screens, prisoners and their families say e-mail is still far faster than paper mail. In the past, it sometimes took Garcia two days to get urgent news from his fiancee, Rita Torres. Her express mail letters letting him know that a friend had been in a car accident and that a relative had had a miscarriage were delayed.
Now, she said, she e-mails him three times a day and gets about as many e-mails back, making it feel as though they are "living in the same house" even though she is five hours away in New Jersey.
The e-mails don't replace phone calls, but those are limited to five hours a month. And Torres still sends letters, some sprayed with perfume.
What e-mail does, however, is provide another link to the outside for Garcia and other inmates.
"Receiving an e-mail is like receiving a letter," William Nerlich, a federal prisoner in Georgia who has another six years to serve on a weapons charge, wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "It makes you happy to be thought of." ..News Source.. by JESSICA GRESKO
