By Ra’Zulu Ukawabutu
The necessity of computer literacy for the segment of incarcerated citizens that will ultimately return to society at some point is real. Computer access is critical for education programs, legal access, social services program participation, rehabilitative services and reentry job readiness services. Computer literacy should be provided for the reintegration of any formerly incarcerated individual returning to society. Current state policy, however, does not support meaningful computer literacy for incarcerated citizens in New Jersey. As a justice impacted individual, this writer can provide empirical insight into this problem, which will hopefully compel others to question why computer access is denied for educational and rehabilitative purposes but permitted for unproductive entertainment for-profit purposes.
Consider the case of the New Jersey Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons (NJ-STEP), a consortium of colleges in New Jersey (Raritan Valley Community College, Rutgers University, Princeton University, Drew University, Farleigh Dickinson University, and College of New Jersey). Since the inception of the NJ-STEP Program in early 2013 at East Jersey State Prison, the program has been attempting to get permission from the New Jersey Department of Corrections (DOC) to provide students with more advanced computer access or at least a computerized database of scholarly articles and journals to no avail. To date, permission has not been granted for “security reasons.”
The only type of computer access available is for those using computers with floppy disk drives to save their data. Imagine being on the final page of an eight-to-ten-page research paper only to lose data or an entire paper because of a disk drive malfunction with no way to recover the data. That is the everyday reality for NJ-STEP students who have the choice of working on a Dell computer from 1996 – 1997. The alternative option is no better. Prisoners can purchase a Brother word processor from vendors approved by the DOC. These are word processors that have not been manufactured since 1986, which are refurbished by vendors that purchase them for between $25 to $50 from eBay or Amazon only to resell them to prisoners for a markup of more than 10 times that price. Subsequently, prisoners have to pay prices ranging from about $400 to $1,200 which seems like exploitation of prisoners.
The DOC does provide a form of digital technology they have monetized via a contract with a service provider for JPay, which has JPay players (digital tablets) that must be purchased for $50 to $85. The JPay players can be used with the JPay kiosks that allow prisoners to send and receive emails using stamps they must purchase, to receive pictures and 30-second videos, to hold video visits with family and friends, to purchase music at inflated prices, and video games. This same controlled access to technology could be utilized to provide rehabilitative and reentry services where security is not a problem.
As a certified paralegal, and a formerly incarcerated individual with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, this writer can personally attest to the necessity for computer access for the legal access program to ensure prisoners’ right to access the courts. This includes the ability to conduct legal research, prepare legal documents, and maintain legal documents on file. However, the computer access the DOC provides for accessing legal services is currently limited to utilizing the proceeds from the contracts with the JPay service provider to purchase Dell computers built only to run Microsoft Word and Lexis Nexis as the legal services provider. There is no sound or audio, CD, or disk drive to save data, which can only be saved using an external floppy disk drive. The floppy disks can only be obtained by the approved vendors for about $15 to $25 for a box of 10 disks which should cost no more than $2 per box.
The Lexis Nexis database is a downloaded version of New Jersey Superior Court Reports, New Jersey Supreme Court Reports, Federal Reports, United States Supreme Court Reports, the Administrative Code, and other superfluous books, which are provided via an external hard drive. It should be noted that the legal reports provided are not directly from the Lexis Nexis database or service utilized by the public. Individuals cannot cite the case reports provided because they are not the official versions.
Computer access serves to facilitate reentry services for incarcerated individuals who will ultimately return to society. This would prepare them to return to society as productive citizens with skills they can realistically utilize. Currently, New Jersey is at least 10-20 years behind other states already utilizing a digital infrastructure to equip and train incarcerated individuals with skills and certifying them in coding, Excel, Microsoft programming, CDL training, online correspondence courses or certificate programs, and assorted employment field training.
A testament to the value of computer access is evidenced by The Last Mile, which is a non-profit organization currently operating in 17 state prisons across six different states and has seen 250 incarcerated individuals graduate from their coding program and then reenter society with no one returning.
There are studies establishing the benefit of computer technology helping to reduce recidivism. The readily available data begs the question, why is the NJ DOC resistant to modernizing computer access for incarcerated individuals who will be returning to society? Wouldn’t it be cost effective to invest in curtailing recidivism?