I would have to say no. There are far to many security risks involve.

here's a better idea - give them landlines in their cells and let them use the landlines free of charge - but the calls are recorded in case they use the phones for criminal purposes

I can think of a lot of reasons why they shouldn't be allowed phones but most of those reasons involve dangerous, violent long-term prisoners and not those incarcerated for minor offences... I think this idea would entail a drastic overhaul of our prison systems.

Bad idea that would be a safety & security issue. There are people in prison that should never be in society. Do you really want those people having 24 hr access to technology? They won't use them to just call family they will use them to commit more crimes.

My brother is in a for-profit prison. They recently gave iPads to all inmates (for free) and now charge per email, per video, per song, etc. It was a business decision.

It’s basically a form of psychological torture as far as I'm concerned. "Here's an iPad, hope you have enough money to *do* anything with it!" For-profit in prisons is a most disgusting thing.

www.prisonpolicy.org

Tablet computers are delivering a captive audience to profit-seeking companies, while enabling prisons to cut essential services like law libraries. We investigate.

People- what do you actually care about? If it's stopping people for committing more crimes, they should be supporting this 100%. People who remain connected to the outside reoffend less.

Most have zero understanding of who gets targeted for incarceration and why. My suggestion is that everyone read The New Jim Crow. It should be mandatory in High School.

I’m really torn on this one. My dad was in prison for 10 years, so I know first hand what it’s like to have that limited contact and how hard it is to maintain a relationship with a loved one. But I also know that so many other crimes are planned using cell phones in there.

There has to be a better way though. One that gives the inmates that connection to their loved ones while also trying to stop further crimes/hits/blackmail from happening. So many prisoners want to be better, but there are others who will never move away from a life of crime

They should because their families are being punished as well, phones would eliminate that problem