![\"report](\"\/\/static.prisonpolicy.org\/images\/reportthumbs\/YouveGotMail_250.jpg\")
<\/a>Easthampton, MA <\/b> — Given the extreme distances<\/a> that separate incarcerated people from their families, technological innovations that allow more frequent and faster communication between incarcerated people and their families would be a welcome improvement. A new report by the Prison Policy Initiative finds that while many facilities are still stuck in the last century, the growing number of facilities experimenting with electronic messaging are all too often providing incarcerated people and their families a product of questionable value at inflated prices. <\/p>\nThe report, You\u2019ve Got Mail: The promise of cyber communication in prisons and the need for regulation<\/a>, analyzes the current state of electronic messaging in correctional facilities. The report finds that electronic messaging — which is often referred to as \u201cemail for prisoners\u201d — actually has very little in common with the email services available to free-world users. For example:<\/p>\n \u201cCalling the electronic messaging offered to incarcerated people and their families \u2018email\u2019 would be an insult to email,\u201d explains Stephen Raher<\/a>, author of You\u2019ve Got Mail<\/i>. \u201cOnce again, it seems that the prison phone giants are providing more of the same old exploitation rather than providing true innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n \tThe report builds on the Prison Policy Initiative\u2019s work uncovering the previously hidden prison and jail phone industry<\/a> and exposing the harmful trend of video visits<\/a> replacing traditional in-person jail visits. The report was submitted to the Federal Communications Commission in response to its request for comments<\/a> on advanced communication services in prisons and jails and provides the FCC with nine recommendations. The report also offers seven other recommendations for legislators, state public utility commissions, and correctional administrators, all with an eye toward transforming electronic messaging from a poorly designed and expensive technology to a fair and reasonable tool for communication. <\/p>\n You\u2019ve Got Mail: The promise of cyber communication in prisons and the need for regulation<\/a> is a collaboration between Prison Policy Initiative and pro bono legal analyst Stephen Raher<\/a> of the organization\u2019s Young Professionals Network<\/a>. Stephen\u2019s previous work with the Prison Policy Initiative provided a first-of-its-kind analysis of high-fee release cards<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n