Jail Inmates To Have Access To Tablets For Visits, Other Purposes
April 11, 2023 at 11:07 p.m.
Jail Inmates To Have Access To Tablets For Visits, Other Purposes
By David [email protected]
Tuesday, the Kosciusko County Commissioners approved a contract with Securitas Security Services as requested by Sheriff Jim Smith.
“I come before you today requesting approval on the Securitas contract, which is our phone company inside the jail. We’ve been longtime partners with Securitas, over 10 years,” Smith said. “The exciting part would be the implementation of the tablets. We’re one of the last jails in the area to actually implement these.”
He said each inmate will have one tablet issued to them and that’s how they will do a lot of their visitations and there will be educational applications on the tablet.
“Eighty percent of what’s on that tablet will be free to the inmate. One of the things I’m most excited about this contract, and kind of where this became a thing for me after visiting inmates in the jail, I found that there is an influx of indigent inmates,” Smith said. When he was negotiating the contract with Securitas, Smith said he made sure there was a piece in the contract that would allow for a free visit for each of the inmates once a week.
“Each inmate will get a 20-minute visit, free of charge, each week. They can have more than that, which they will pay for, but it was important to me to at least be able to offer that. So we’re excited about that,” Smith said.
Many of the forms the inmates need - like grievance and commissary forms - also will be downloaded onto the tablets so there’s less paper in the jail. Mail that is sent to inmates will be uploaded onto the tablet and they will be able to view it on the tablet.
“We’re excited about that. There’s some investigative tools that are inside these tablets that will be beneficial to our investigators to conduct their business as well,” Smith said.
Commissioner Cary Groninger thanked Smith for the work he did on the contract and he made a motion to approve the contract. Commissioner Bob Conley applauded Smith for his efforts, too, and seconded the motion. The motion was approved 3-0.
After the meeting, Smith answered questions about the tablets and contract.
Acknowledging that some of the logistics still need to be worked out, he said, “It’s my understanding that once an inmate is deemed to be there a while ... they’ll be issued a tablet and they’ll be able to have access to everything everyone else has. Eighty percent of it is going to be free, like I mentioned. It’s going to be loaded with standard applications, but there will be other ones available to purchase, such as movies and that sort of thing. That’s not going to be paid for by the county, it’s going to have to be something that they purchase.”
There will be content restrictions on what the inmates can purchase. Movies will be limited for purchase to those that are PG-13 or lower.
As for the cost of the contract with Securitas, Smith said, “We’re paid by Securitas to allow their services in there. So Securitas actually pays for the tablets and services. There’s a maximum amount that Securitas is able to charge per messages or phone calls, and a portion of that will go back to the county.”
He said there’s no expense to the county and the sheriff’s department is actually paid to allow the services. Securitas is one of three or four vendors Smith looked at.
Anyone who wants to have a contact or visit with an inmate on the tablet will have to download the Securitas application on their phone or electronic device. Smith said he thought the application was free.
Anything outside of the one 20-minute free visit per inmate per week has to be paid for by the inmate.
Smith said that free visit is important because during Covid there were a lot of restrictions put in place on the in-person visits.
“I heard a lot of those complaints when I was back there in the jail visiting with inmates. A lot of them just said, ‘Sheriff, I just can’t afford it.’ So it really gave me some negotiating power when I was talking to these different companies and what I needed from them to make this a possibility to do business with them. Securitas was able to accommodate our needs, and I’m excited about that part. The free visit a week is huge and it’s 20 minutes long,” he said.
Each week, the inmates will be given a code to use for their visit. They won’t be able to divide the 20 minutes on four different visits as it’s 20 minutes for one visit per week.
“Now there can be multiple people on the other end of that talking to them,” he said. “I’m excited about that feature and I think the inmates will appreciate it as well.”
Now that the contract is signed, Smith said it will be 120 to 180 days until completion. Securitas has a lot of work to do to get the system up and running, including running wires, because Securitas is putting their own network in the jail. It has nothing to do with the county’s network.
“And there’s restrictions there where inmates can’t talk to each other, they can only talk to the outside. Once they leave, that tablet is no good outside of the jail, it only works on that network in the jail,” Smith explained.
Inmates will not get to take the tablet with them. If a tablet is damaged, it will be incumbent on the inmate to pay for it.
Some of the companies Smith talked to about the tablets wanted a 3:1 ratio, basically three inmates to one tablet. Smith said it would be hard to have inmates accountable for the tablets if there are three inmates who have access to each one.
“Where in this case, there’s just one person so if there’s damage and stuff, there’s one person we’re billing to for that damage,” he said.
Tuesday, the Kosciusko County Commissioners approved a contract with Securitas Security Services as requested by Sheriff Jim Smith.
“I come before you today requesting approval on the Securitas contract, which is our phone company inside the jail. We’ve been longtime partners with Securitas, over 10 years,” Smith said. “The exciting part would be the implementation of the tablets. We’re one of the last jails in the area to actually implement these.”
He said each inmate will have one tablet issued to them and that’s how they will do a lot of their visitations and there will be educational applications on the tablet.
“Eighty percent of what’s on that tablet will be free to the inmate. One of the things I’m most excited about this contract, and kind of where this became a thing for me after visiting inmates in the jail, I found that there is an influx of indigent inmates,” Smith said. When he was negotiating the contract with Securitas, Smith said he made sure there was a piece in the contract that would allow for a free visit for each of the inmates once a week.
“Each inmate will get a 20-minute visit, free of charge, each week. They can have more than that, which they will pay for, but it was important to me to at least be able to offer that. So we’re excited about that,” Smith said.
Many of the forms the inmates need - like grievance and commissary forms - also will be downloaded onto the tablets so there’s less paper in the jail. Mail that is sent to inmates will be uploaded onto the tablet and they will be able to view it on the tablet.
“We’re excited about that. There’s some investigative tools that are inside these tablets that will be beneficial to our investigators to conduct their business as well,” Smith said.
Commissioner Cary Groninger thanked Smith for the work he did on the contract and he made a motion to approve the contract. Commissioner Bob Conley applauded Smith for his efforts, too, and seconded the motion. The motion was approved 3-0.
After the meeting, Smith answered questions about the tablets and contract.
Acknowledging that some of the logistics still need to be worked out, he said, “It’s my understanding that once an inmate is deemed to be there a while ... they’ll be issued a tablet and they’ll be able to have access to everything everyone else has. Eighty percent of it is going to be free, like I mentioned. It’s going to be loaded with standard applications, but there will be other ones available to purchase, such as movies and that sort of thing. That’s not going to be paid for by the county, it’s going to have to be something that they purchase.”
There will be content restrictions on what the inmates can purchase. Movies will be limited for purchase to those that are PG-13 or lower.
As for the cost of the contract with Securitas, Smith said, “We’re paid by Securitas to allow their services in there. So Securitas actually pays for the tablets and services. There’s a maximum amount that Securitas is able to charge per messages or phone calls, and a portion of that will go back to the county.”
He said there’s no expense to the county and the sheriff’s department is actually paid to allow the services. Securitas is one of three or four vendors Smith looked at.
Anyone who wants to have a contact or visit with an inmate on the tablet will have to download the Securitas application on their phone or electronic device. Smith said he thought the application was free.
Anything outside of the one 20-minute free visit per inmate per week has to be paid for by the inmate.
Smith said that free visit is important because during Covid there were a lot of restrictions put in place on the in-person visits.
“I heard a lot of those complaints when I was back there in the jail visiting with inmates. A lot of them just said, ‘Sheriff, I just can’t afford it.’ So it really gave me some negotiating power when I was talking to these different companies and what I needed from them to make this a possibility to do business with them. Securitas was able to accommodate our needs, and I’m excited about that part. The free visit a week is huge and it’s 20 minutes long,” he said.
Each week, the inmates will be given a code to use for their visit. They won’t be able to divide the 20 minutes on four different visits as it’s 20 minutes for one visit per week.
“Now there can be multiple people on the other end of that talking to them,” he said. “I’m excited about that feature and I think the inmates will appreciate it as well.”
Now that the contract is signed, Smith said it will be 120 to 180 days until completion. Securitas has a lot of work to do to get the system up and running, including running wires, because Securitas is putting their own network in the jail. It has nothing to do with the county’s network.
“And there’s restrictions there where inmates can’t talk to each other, they can only talk to the outside. Once they leave, that tablet is no good outside of the jail, it only works on that network in the jail,” Smith explained.
Inmates will not get to take the tablet with them. If a tablet is damaged, it will be incumbent on the inmate to pay for it.
Some of the companies Smith talked to about the tablets wanted a 3:1 ratio, basically three inmates to one tablet. Smith said it would be hard to have inmates accountable for the tablets if there are three inmates who have access to each one.
“Where in this case, there’s just one person so if there’s damage and stuff, there’s one person we’re billing to for that damage,” he said.
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