by David Reutter

For prisoners, having access to electronic technology is a privilege that helps make doing time an easier task. The ability to listen to one’s favorite music, watch a movie on demand or to play a game helps reduce the drudgery of just lying or sitting around staring at the dimples in the walls. Options to earn certificates or a degree through educational apps is a serious bonus that helps one prepare for release or better oneself.

Electronic technology often includes the ability to make phone calls or engage in video visits on one’s purchased or issued tablet. In 2023, the Nevada legislature approved the use of tablets in prison so prisoners could benefit from the proposed 28 apps. Nevada became the 49th state to allow tablets. Since then, about 10,000 tablets have been issued to prisoners, roughly 3,000 less than the state’s total prison population (As of March 2026, Jean Conservation Camp and Carlin Conservation Camp prisoners awaited issuance of tablets). Prisoners and families applaud the pros of tablets, but they abhor the tablet cash cow that seeks to milk them dry as it provides substandard services.

GTL/Viapath Technolgies is one of two companies the Nevada Department of Corrections (DOC) purchases tablets from, with Securus Technologies being the other. Most tablets offer prisoners apps with music, movies, educational courses, games, job offerings, and pod casts.

Nevada was the leader of nine other states to join a master agreement for tablet services. The National Association of State Procurement Officers administers a master agreement for phone and tablet services that other prison services can join. The turnkey contract provides an easy way for states to get tablets to their prison populations by signing the agreement and selecting the vendor, pricing and optional services. A DOC can choose among five vendors: GTL/Viapath, Securus, Advanced Technologies Group LLC, ICSolutions, and Keefe Commissary Network. [See: PLN, March 2025, p. 1.]

When seeking the Nevada DOC contract, officials proposed that Nevada prisoners would be charged 1 cent per minute under bulk packages to significantly reduce usage costs. State regulations implemented in September 2025 outlined bulk packages with rates of 1 cent per minute and premium packages of $19.99 per month. Those packages, as of March 2026, have not been offered.

The costs of a phone call increased from 6 cents to 10 cents per minute after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rolled back caps in 2025. Video visits cost 16 cents per minute. Prisoners are charged 5 cents per minute to peruse or to view tablet content. Two hours of daily streaming costs approximately $2,184 annually, an amount that is out of reach for most prisoners.

“Some guys don’t even like being on the tablets like that anymore because they charge too much just to browse to find something that they want to see. And it’s just ridiculous,” said Charmaine Simmons, who lives in Texas and uses tablet services to send messages and enjoy video visits with her imprisoned son. Simmons pointed out that messages cost 20 cents and 60 cents to send a video.

Families also decry the censorship of their messages, which are sometimes not delivered with no reimbursement provided. One point of contention is the censorship of video visits. Everything except a prisoner’s face is blurred or blocked out. “That’s not a video visit,” said Jodi Hocking, executive director of advocacy group Return Strong! Phone calls from families with AT&T carrier accounts are blocked and grievances can’t be filed via tablets. The hardware itself, Hocking noted, is “junk,” with headphones that break constantly and some units missing chargers.

According to research by Fines and Fees Justice Center and Return Strong!, of the 28 apps the Nevada Legislature was presented with as offerings to help convince it that tablets were in the state’s penological interest, only five have been offered to prisoners.

“What the interim judiciary committee heard at our last meeting was that many of the features of the tablets that [legislators] discussed and voted on have not come to fruition,” said Committee chairperson Melanie Schieble (D-Las Vegas). “Whether it’s through regulatory changes or additional legislation, I’ll continue working with stakeholders to find solutions to these problems.”

Nevada has a fiscal stake in assuring the tablet program is successful. Fees charged to prisoners, including tablet commissions, are statutorily responsible for paying $3 million in full-time prison employee salaries. The Nevada DOC is, therefore, not pushing hard for GTL/Viapath to comply with its tablet contract’s cost requirements. “We’ve got to make sure we have enough revenue to pay for the personnel services,” said state DOC Director James Dzurenda. “If we jump to the 1 cent bulk rate, I don’t think we would be solvent.”

Nevada, however, has not received a dime since the tablet contract was signed. “The state got zero, so the state has received nothing,” Dzurenda told the Judicial Committee in January of this year. Advocates called for prisoners and families, starting on March 4, 2026, to protest tablet offerings and costs by boycotting those services on Wednesdays. “If some of these problems start getting resolved, people—either Viapath, [DOC], the state, the finance committee—whoever comes to the table and wants to have discussions about what is really going on and what is really happening to all of us, great,” said Hocking. “Then, hopefully, we can move forward. If not, we will escalate.”

Most upsetting to at least one prisoner is the failure of state officials to follow and enforce established rules. “It seems like a double standard,” said prisoner Robert Jackson. “You think if a contract exists, that contract has to be abided by and when it’s not … you wonder, where’s the oversight.” Oversight is regularly lacking when prison profiteers offer kickbacks to the state.  

Source: The Nevada Independent