email : Webview : NEW Report: First-of-its-kind SF Program Provides FREE Tablets to Incarcerated People

This month, the City and County of San Francisco completed the launch of the nation’s first tablet program that provides completely free tablet computers with no hidden costs to all people incarcerated in the local jails.

Today, The Financial Justice Project released an issue brief describing the free tablet program and the problem with traditional tablets with high prices for basic services. The new tablet program was also covered by the San Francisco Chronicle, CBS Bay Area, and KRON 4 News.

Read the Report

Available on the Tablet: Getting Out & Staying Outwhich provides resources to navigate reentry in San Francisco

Through this tablet program, every incarcerated person in the San Francisco jails has access to a tablet where every service is free. At no cost to them or their family, people can prepare for reentry by searching for job listings and housing, participate in educational and well-being programs, access important legal resources, make commissary orders and medical requests, and submit grievances. They also have free access to e-books, audiobooks, movies, and music provided through a first-of-its-kind collaboration with the San Francisco Public Library. Below is an overview of all the tablet features included.

FREE FEATURES ON THE SAN FRANCISCO TABLET

Tablet features included at no cost to incarcerated people or their families

San Francisco’s new tablet program serves as a model for jails and prisons across the country to provide free tablets with a range of free features. In many other jails and prisons, tablets are used to profit off of incarcerated individuals and their families. People can be charged $25 to watch a movie, three cents a minute to read an e-book; or $1 a minute for a video call. These high costs are typically borne by incarcerated people’s families, most of whom have low incomes and are people of color. Providing free tablets to all incarcerated people lifts a financial burden off of incarcerated people and their families, advances racial and economic equity, and ensures all incarcerated people have free and equitable access to reentry resources.

Read the Report

This new program builds on past efforts in San Francisco to lower the high costs of incarceration, including making jail phone calls free and eliminating price markups in the jail store, commonly known as commissary.

The free tablet for all incarcerated people was made possible through a unique collaboration between the San Francisco Mayor’s Office, Sheriff’s Office, Public Library, The Financial Justice Project in the Treasurer’s Office, and the San Francisco Jail Justice Coalition. We are proud of this first-in-the-nation reform in San Francisco and hope that the issue brief will be helpful to other jurisdictions that aim to eliminate the high costs of incarceration for families and incarcerated people.

Yours in Financial Justice,

Anne, Michelle, and Cecilia

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