By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
Inmates at King County’s three secure detention facilities—the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent, King County Correctional Facility, and the Judge Patricia H. Clark Family Justice Center in Seattle—will now have access to computer tablets while in custody.
The tablet program, unveiled in the spring of 2024 in collaboration with Securus Technologies, a third-party vendor which is a fully web-based visual communication system, will provide inmates new opportunities to develop skills, engage with educational resources, address mental health and substance abuse issues, and stay connected with legal counsel and loved ones.
According to Allen Nance, Director of King County’s Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention, one of the top priorities of the department is to help empower and improve the lives of people housed in detention centers, and this program is a “game-changer” in the way the justice system looks at incarceration and the conditions under which people are being held.
“The plethora of e-books, podcasts, music, games, and more, promises meaningful outlets for residents, and a powerful behavior-management tool for staff,” says Nance. “This program is evidence of how we are fulfilling our promise to improve the lives of people in our custody and empower them.”
Steve Larsen, Deputy Director of the DAJD, says that the program has been in the making for several years as a way to help inmates to educate themselves and occupy their time in a productive manner.
“This has been something that we’ve been really dreaming about for probably five or six years now,” says Larsen. “We really felt like these tablets could be a game changer for this organization and for the people that reside with us. There’s a lot of time spent sitting around in jail as I’ve learned over the last 10 years or so, being here and having something that not only occupies folks time but that provides them with all kinds of information, education, access to programs is important, but maybe the most important thing that we have seen is the ability to connect people with family and friends, their loved ones by phone.”
According to officials, most jail residents will receive a tablet after being assigned to a housing unit, which normally takes approximately three days after being booked. There are no charges for standard features, and the tablets come pre-loaded with thousands of e-books and podcasts, along with legal research materials. Residents also have access to educational materials, religious services, and substance use resources. They also include basic functions such as calculators and clocks, but the cameras are disabled. They will have access to the tablet unless it is removed for disciplinary reasons.
All tablet services are free for youth, including phone calls. However, adults in jail must pay for premium content such as movies, TV shows, music, and games. The first two phone calls per week are free. Jail residents can place more calls for a fee connected to their financial books. Money for tablet use can be placed on a Securus Debit Account.
“This really provides a lot more for people not only to do but to be connected, to manage their time and the things that they find important,” says Larsen. “And I think the real key is that the [County] Executive made the decision to have us negotiate a deal that made it free for people.”
“To be clear, tablets are free to everybody in both youth and adult side of the house. The youth get free phone calls, all the time. On the adult side of the house, the first two phone calls are free, and all of the free content is available to anybody, whether you’re on the youth side or the adult side of the house.”
The tablets are provided by Dallas-based Securus and are designed for a corrections environment. The vendor provides the hardware and WiFi infrastructure for free and gets paid through subscriptions to premium content. The tablets only provide access to approved programs controlled by Securus, and are not connected to the open internet.
The Department of Adult & Juvenile Detention is working to expand capabilities on the tablets, including having materials in additional languages. The department also is tracking whether the tablets have a positive impact on behavior.