Minnesota inmates frustrated by pause on prison tablet service

For years, Stillwater inmate Paul Gordon unwound in his cell by turning on his prison-issued tablet to listen to music or pull up pictures of his family to recall memories of life outside. When the device died last year, Gordon was dismayed to learn the Minnesota Department of Corrections no longer allowed inmates to buy tablets.

“It’s depressing not being able to listen to music or write messages to my family any more,” Gordon, 41, said in a Tuesday phone interview from prison. It has led to a feeling of “another confinement within itself,” he said.

In May 2023, the Department of Corrections (DOC) stopped allowing incarcerated people to buy tablets, which had been purchased through a company called JPay. The service was first provided about a decade ago. The change was made because the DOC switched providers from JPay to another company, GTL, department spokesman Aaron Swanum said in a Wednesday email.

The change has led to frustration from inmates, who said in interviews that the inability to purchase tablets has created unfair disparities in ability to communicate with loved ones and others outside of prison.

The devices are similar to an Android tablet but are designed for prisons. They do not have cameras, microphones or internet capabilities, but they do allow for games and music downloads. The inmates can also use them to store and view photos or videos sent by family and friends.

The advocacy group Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC) criticized the DOC for the extended wait, and for not allowing inmates to purchase tablets while they transition to another device. Former inmate Brad Rierson, a member of IWOC who was released from Faribault Correctional Facility in June, said he was angered by the wait.

“I’m extremely frustrated,” Rierson said. “Guys were looking forward to it, and it’s a need, and then [the DOC] didn’t deliver.”

“Currently, the DOC plans to provide the tablets to one facility by the end of December, and then provide tablets to the other facilities after that,” Swanum said.

The department first put out bids for a new tablet provider in 2023, he added.

“It has taken until now for the vendor to meet the ADA requirements,” Swanum said. “Ensuring that ADA requirements are met services everyone’s interests.”

The tablets allowed prisoners unlimited time to compose messages. Now, those without a device have been limited to 15 minutes each time they use a computer kiosk to write an email.

Darla Holland, 40, said she has struggled to communicate with her peer recovery specialist and her daughter because of the short window of time to read emails and respond. Elly Klosterbuer, Holland’s 19-year-old daughter, said it’s been challenging to understand her mother’s emails because they are hastily written.

There is also a sentimental loss caused by not having the tablets, inmates and their families say. Gordon, who is serving a life sentence for murder, said he lost the only photo of his late father when his tablet died, as well as a photo of his daughter.

Rierson, who spent eight years in the Faribault Correctional Facility, would often go to sleep with meditative music playing through the headphones attached to his tablet. He said he would spend hours looking at photos of family members, and that the devices provided a mental health benefit to many.

“It’s sort of comforting to know that there are people out there that care about you,” he said. “It’s that connection that gives me a reason to do better in prison.”