How to spot the hidden costs in a “no-cost” tablet contract

There's no such thing as a free lunch - or a free tablet.

by Wanda Bertram and Peter Wagner, July 24, 2018

If someone offered you a free computer, you’d rightly be suspicious that there were strings attached. So when private companies offer “free” tablets to incarcerated people, politicians are understandably skeptical, looking for hidden costs to the state.

But in their quest for an answer, politicians will often fail, as we saw in New York State earlier this year. Private company JPay signed a contract with the New York Department of Corrections to give free tablets to 52,000 incarcerated people. Facing questions from legislators, the department insisted – truthfully – that taxpayers wouldn’t pay a dime.

Legislators dropped the issue without asking the bigger question: What would motivate a company to give away 52,000 tablet computers for free?

We filed a public records request, and got a more complete answer: The 52,000 “free” tablets are part of a package deal (or “bundled contract”) of several JPay services that gouge incarcerated people and their families.

Graphic explaining how much money 'free' tablets actually cost incarcerated people.

The contract contains virtually every exploitative trick we’ve documented in the past several years, including:

  • Taking over the state prisons’ banking system, so they can add fees for services like depositing money. Transferring just $10 to a loved one’s account in a New York state prison will soon cost between $3.15 and $4.15.
  • Selling $0.35 “stamps” for a product they have the nerve to call email. (We all have a love/hate relationship with our inboxes, but calling prison messaging email is not fair to email.)
  • Providing refunds to incarcerated people when they are released, not in a check, but via a pre-paid debit card rife with fees – such as monthly “service” fees, fees for checking your account balance, or automatic fines for inactivity. (You can request a paper check instead – for $10.)
  • Offering video chats at $9 for every 30 minutes.
  • Charging above-market prices for media, such as music and e-books.

These provisions explain how JPay expects to make almost $9 million in five years from a contract that is free to the state: by selling profitable, fee-laden services against “complimentary” products like tablets.

New York state legislators never bothered to solve this mystery, but it’s ironic how close some of them got. Take Republican Assemblyman Steve Hawley, who demanded: “If it’s this easy to encourage vendors to provide free tablets to inmates, why aren’t they being provided to our students?” The answer, as columnist Erica Bryant points out, is that students would never purchase a fake “stamp” to send an email to their parents.

Companies like JPay are offering “free” tablet programs to a growing number of states, and legislators should approach these offers with caution. You don’t need an advanced degree to find the hidden costs in New York’s “no-cost” contract. The trick is looking not only at taxpayer costs, but also at the exploitation of incarcerated people and their families.

Wanda Bertram is the Communications Strategist at the Prison Policy Initiative. (Other articles | Full bio | Contact) Peter Wagner is Executive Director of the Prison Policy Initiative. (Other articles | Full bio | Contact)

5 responses:

  1. DenverPromise says:

    Colorado inmates are go I,g through the same thing. They gave the people who are incarcerated these tablets. Family and friends then add monies for different items. They had “links” for purchases of music and games. Then poor gone. No refunds to the family or friends who paid for these. As we speak the have taken the messaging system away. Without any warnings all my messages from my husband gone. I’m so upset. I wrote to GTL and was informed messaging has been temporarily been taken away. Well, it hasn’t worked in months. They said, they would give credits back…ya right…still waiting. Dont get me started on video messaging. They encourage this…its a great way to stay connected. Sign up send payment, only to be told its not available to some inmates. Again, no refund! Sorry but this is bullshit. GTL was awful before, then they get a new CEO and it’s worse. When you call to speak to someone, these representatives read from a script and don’t speak or understand basic English. Please know that I am not prejudice but GTL has an outsource call center.
    Suppose I needed to agree and vent on what’s happening in Colorado.

  2. Tomas says:

    Let’s not forget to talk about the fact that most of the time the kiosks are broken due to programming. As well as the “prison system” censorship that you never get your stamps back for, plus the cost of resending the emails, and the wait time to receive on either side of the email, up to 5 days???? Really?!?!?!? Jpay is full of shit, plainly stated, fees are through the roof yet they have monopolized the service. There is no other way to keep in touch with your loved ones, they have you by the short and curlies……

  3. Glenna Batson says:

    I used to be able to send money for supplies to my pen pal inmate by money order. Now JPay is in charge of this. The degree to which this has profited them and hurt the vulnerable – AND, those who care for and about them – is so unjust. For every sum you send, JPay pockets almost 10% more. Banks are also profiting from this, too. If you use a credit card rather than a debit card to send money through JPay, the credit card company might well be charging 10% extra for making a’cash advance.’
    Wake up and protest. This is not ‘unbelievable,’ it is all too believable.

  4. Marilyn S Williams says:

    My nephew calls from a tablet he purchased in the Ohio system. The sound is so bad and noisy that it is a waste of money on my part for him to even call. Echos in background, noise of the other inmates. Take several moment for whatever is being said to get through. (Lost of money)
    I get to stressed that I hollar; then he gets upset and hangs up feeling I do not want to talk to him. I bought 10 stamps about a month ago and now they are not showing up. JPAY does not know what became of them. The system really rips of inmates family and friends. Wish there were more that could be done to improve the system.

  5. Kurt says:

    If anyone is interested, I’m currently doing research on JPay and I am collecting survey answers from anyone who has something to say about them:
    https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe3SPLkGIaB_orYMVps3Eu_l5FsJMxKyvKAtt_xoM2PaE_0eA/viewform?usp=sf_link

    Thanks!



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