The time has finally come. The IDOC has delivered notice that all JPay services will be terminated in Idaho prisons Oct. 20.
Here’s where I’d normally detail the agency’s history with JPay and the company’s infuriating behaviors. Unfortunately, the IDOC’s new GettingOut messaging service limits me to 1500 characters per message. And that’s just not enough runway for my diligent indignation to take flight. Especially when the timing corresponds to an explosive six-part series by InvestigateWest that dives into claims of sexual abuse in Idaho prisons.
[Asking my dad and publisher to provide links to the series here.]
Roughly 700 characters left . . .
Fellow Prison Journalism Project contributor Dennis “Abbadunamis” Mintun published the findings from his months-long inquiry into a prison fund filled through prisoner purchases and intended to enrich the lives of prisoners. (Spoiler: the agency refused his public records request for related financial records.) He has since been moved from his comfortable single-man cell to the chaotic, open dorm illustrated here.
My friend and cafeteria companion, James Mancuso, (also a PJP contributor), published an article this month about the connections he’s made with the critters outside of our housing unit.
And that leaves the industrious David Shackelford and his quest for accountability–be sure to check out his Idaho Prison Blog here!
All of this is appalling, but the limitation to communication is most meaningful to me. The consequences are far reaching. Families should have the right to communicate. The ability to “visit” daily by JPay with my incarcerated son meant all the world to me. The public should be aware. The public should care.
Hi Kathy. Thank you for contributing to the discussion. One of the things we at ISCI are now anticipating is that the IDOC won’t honor its assurances to remove the mortality timers from our JPay devices so that we can continue to view our pictures and prior exchanges with loved ones. They’ve pulled all of the kiosks from our units and left two in the gym, to which we’re supposed to sync our media devices as soon as “the final update” becomes available. It’s this update that we residents are relying on to again be able to access our libraries of videograms and keep our devices from locking up. The only problem: the ports to the gym kiosks have long been disabled, and corrections staff who supervise the gym say they’ve no intention of replacing them.
I completely agree! With GTL’s restrictive character limits, meaningful, in-depth communication has become even harder. What used to cost about $0.35 for a full email (up to 20,000 characters) now costs a dollar or more per day for brief 1,500 character “text messages.” For many incarcerated people and their families, that’s a steep financial strain and another unnecessary barrier to staying connected.
It not only punishes the inmates but also their families. It’s inhumane.