Pay phones may soon disappear from Winnebago County jail and replaced with 2017 technology.

Tablets In Jail
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The days of making phone calls in jail may be over. Soon inmates will be able to use tablets to communicate and more. It's a move that could save money and actually work to improve lives of inmates. It will also eliminate problems with phones not working, as reported here.

The tablets, according to rrstar.com, would offer inmates GED studies and be useful for N.A. and A.A. classes. Music and games could also be purchased on the monitored tablets.

Inmates who have money on their commissary account can make phone calls and purchase approved books and games from the vendor. A portion of the money collected from the phone calls and purchases made by the inmates will be given to Winnebago County.

Do you have concerned with inmates having access to social media while behind bards? Don't be, these tablets won't have those options, according to Rockford Register Star.

The tablets cannot access the internet and do not have social media capabilities. Instead, the tablets are intranet-based, meaning content is controlled and monitored in the jail.

This will not be paid for by tax payers, which makes it's easier to be OK with the privilege of these tablets being accessible to people in jail. It's also been proven to help the environment in jail in other jails throughout the U.S.

The tablets had reduced by 40 percent the number of fights between inmates and between inmates and corrections officers. We also lowered our suicide ideation by over 60 percent,” he said. “They are not sitting there staring at a wall all day and dwelling on how they ruined their lives or impacted their family.

The transition from payphones to tablets could happen in three months.

[H/T RRStar]

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