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Tuscola County inmates getting tablets for a minimal charge (Tuscola County)
Mary Drier/Mike Kaufman
Sun, 02 Feb 2025 00:57:45 EST
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The Tuscola County Sheriff's Department will be getting some tablets for the inmates to keep them entertained, and the tablets will be a benefit for the jail staff as well.
When an inmate is content and occupied, there are fewer fights and they are easier to deal with, according to Jail Administrator Brian Harris, who pitched the tablet program during a commissioners' meeting.
lCSolution, which provides telephone service for inmates, has a new program of providing 8 inch tablets to inmates to watch movies, learn from educational materials, and communicate with their legal counsel and jail staff.
As an incentive for the county using the tablet program, lCSolution extended the inmate phone contract by four years, with annual renewals available.
lCSolution will provide the jail with 50 active tables as well as 10 spares as backups along with a central charging station.
The tables come with use limitations, but inmates can use them to send emails, text messages, communicate with their attorney, email, read books, and look up information about their case and court dates, and more.
Inmate use of the tables will also be a time saver as well as a money maker for the jail.
Staff would spend several hours a week hand sorting mail, and with the tables that will no longer be necessary, explained Harris.
The inmate will be charged 5 cents per minute for streaming entertainment content, and they will be charged 25 cents per minute for emailing, and texting. From those charges, the jail will get a percentage.
All of the other aspects of the county's current contract with the company will remain in effect and unchanged. This includes calling and video visitation rates and fees, and the $10,000 annual bonus.