Delaware prisons expand program to give tablets to all behind bars

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This story was supported by a statehouse coverage grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

George Brinkley, who was recently released from the Delaware Department of Correction, said tablets provided by the state have helped him gain job skills and stay connected with his family. He was detained at the Community Corrections Treatment Center in Smyrna.

“It helps me communicate with my family because my family lives in Sussex County,” he said. “There’s a phone app that I can make a phone call anytime I need it.”

DOC partnered with ViaPath Technologies earlier this year to provide all incarcerated individuals with tablets, more than 4,000 people. It’s an expansion of a pilot program that started in 2019 with a ratio of about one tablet per six people being held in prison.

Brinkley earned money inside the prison by working in the kitchen, and cleaning the administration offices and his living area, making $13.25 an hour. But those earnings go to fines, restitution and court fees, not him. So it fell on his family to give him money to access the paid features of the tablet. He said his girlfriend would send him money for the device.

“I just tell her to send me a few dollars,” he said. “Just to be able to send her a text message.”

Community Corrections Treatment Center offers substance abuse treatment. The people incarcerated there don’t keep the wages they earn. But in Delaware’s other prisons, inmates earn just cents on the dollar for every hour they work, which means using the tablets can be expensive for them and their families.

ViaPath is owned by private equity firm American Securities. It’s one of the nation’s largest prison telecom corporations. The company provided free tablets to people being held in confinement and provided the infrastructure. It makes money through charging for personal communication with loved ones, and access to sports, podcasts, news, games, movies and music.  The costs range from three cents to five cents a minute. The tablets are not connected to the internet.