Reporting on Prison Ed Tech: 4 Things to Know

Journalists who cover education technology (ed tech) in prison need to understand the educational landscape and the challenges of a correctional facility – an environment that most reporters likely won’t ever experience first-hand. 

The implementation and the effectiveness of ed tech is affected by security and funding challenges and the digital divide. By covering these significant issues, journalists can provide a thorough look at the role ed tech plays in prisons, including its potential benefits.

Additionally, many are recognizing the importance of ed tech in rehabilitating prisoners and reducing recidivism. As technology continues to evolve, it holds the potential to transform educational opportunities for incarcerated learners, and education journalists should be there to report on it.

Here’s what  journalists should know when reporting on ed tech in prison:

History

Ed tech began making its way into prison education programs in the early 2000s. As technology became more advanced and accessible, interest grew in incorporating digital tools into prison education programs. This included the use of personal computers, online courses and educational content on tablets. 

Ed tech startups for prison education began to expand and compete. Additionally, learning apps and online college courses too arrived.  

Thomas Daugherty, a 36-year-old incarcerated college student, graduated from Miami Dade College after taking courses in-person and on his state-issued tablet. “Having access to educational content was so important because our professors weren’t always allowed in the prison,” Daugherty said during a phone interview from a correctional institution in Florida.

Access to Technology

Many prisons can’t afford computer hardware for classrooms, and they have limited internet access due to insufficient infrastructure or security concerns. This makes it difficult to implement and maintain ed tech programs. 

Personal tablets are an option, but they’re only distributed in some institutions; they also break easily and take months to get a replacement. Wi-Fi networks are spotty, and service is often blocked by the two-foot thick concrete walls throughout a correctional facility. Software, while widely available, is costly and very likely won’t be in the budget for most corrections departments. 

“It is so challenging to do research and write essays when you’re blocked from using technology,” said David “Suave” Gonzales, a 2022 Pulitzer Prize winner and formerly incarcerated college graduate who earned his bachelor’s degree in education from Villanova while he was in prison. He was released in 2017. “We need computers and the internet to enhance learning inside.”

Additionally, prisons are understaffed. If an institution has a computer lab, it generally needs a correctional officer posted there per security protocols. Something as mundane as a guard taking a vacation day can shut down classes for a day or more, and an education building can be closed for lack of an officer to supervise.

Many state prisons have secured personal tablets for incarcerated students, but the programming only works for the students who can access it. Tablets are sometimes “jailbroken,” or transformed for unauthorized use, leading prison officials to confiscate hundreds of the devices in a shakedown. This leaves learners with no way to study or complete assignments. 

Additionally, when a person is in solitary confinement (still widely used for discipline in most states) they can possess their tablet but have no way of charging it once it’s dead. Nevertheless, access to ed tech on personal tablets increases the chances that an incarcerated student will succeed, research shows.

Stacy Burnett, senior product manager at ITHAKA, leads the development of JSTOR Prison Education, an initiative that enables people in prison to access one of the world’s largest online libraries.      

“We have proven that through collaboration and creativity that we can create workable solutions that deliver access to digital equity and information literacy for incarcerated people,” Burnett said. “And it’s done using technology.” 

Funding

The U.S. spends at least $80 billion a year to operate prisons and jails in all 50 states. Funding inside federal prisons varies widely across the nation, and there are significant disparities in how states allocate resources for prison education programs. Generally, states with lower overall budgets tend to spend less on programs designed to help incarcerated individuals gain skills or education. 

Prison education programs in some states may receive more funding, especially those focused on vocational training or higher education, and some state correctional departments have contracts with ed tech companies to receive tablets and/or software.

These programs often rely on government grants, private donations, and corporate support to acquire educational tools for incarcerated students. Sometimes, correctional officers are paid overtime to stay in an education building for longer hours for various reasons, making these classrooms more of a financial burden than educational content on a tablet.

Ed tech companies bid on contracts from state prisons (some contracts are public information and may require a FOIA request to review) that range from providing personal tablets to all incarcerated residents to offering software applications on their platform, such as GED tutoring, job placement and financial literacy. 

Many of these contracts grant the tech provider an exclusive agreement to operate within the prison system or jail, and enables them to charge fees to third-party providers that want to deliver their content on the platform. Furthermore, they will aggregate tech that they pay for and sell access to colleges as a SaaS product.

Former Florida State Sen. Jeff Brandes, who sponsored several prison education bills during his time in office, said he believes that all options should be on the table when it comes to expanding funding for education technology.

“When you give people an easy way to get an education inside, it improves public safety when they go home,” Brandes said. “We should support education technology because I’ve been to some facilities where there’s 1,500 residents and no education programming because of a lack of funding.”

Security Concerns

Ensuring that ed tech is secure and doesn’t pose a risk to prison security is crucial. A typical prison administration may assume that incarcerated learners can easily go online with the tablets and use social media. While these are real concerns, the only way for a prisoner to use a tablet to get on the internet is to “jailbreak” it, using a hotspot to turn a tablet into a smartphone. In that case, corrections officers confiscate the device and file a disciplinary report. 

Learning management systems, used for class assignments and student-professor communications, are another source of anxiety for corrections departments. Professor Samantha Carlo of Miami Dade College has not had a working learning management system at the Everglades Correctional Institution in Florida for two years now because of security concerns and bureaucracy, she said. 

“Students are not learning basic computer skills, so when they transfer credits to a college on the streets, the students won’t know how to use a computer,” Carlo said.

10 Questions Journalists Should Ask When Covering Ed Tech in Prison

1. Who supplies the educational programming and hardware? Is it the state Department of Corrections (DOC), a college or another entity?
2. How aggressively are students being surveilled when interacting with education on the devices? Where is all the information from logs stored? Who can access it? Who owns?
3. Who provides the personal electronic tablets? How long does it take to replace a malfunctioning tablet? Who pays for the new device?
4. Is the DOC contract with ed tech providers public? Do you need a FOIA request to review the full contract?
5. Do any of the subscription fees or costs to run on the tech providers platform result in “donations” to the Inmate Welfare Fund, an escrow account for recreation equipment, library books, and other amenities that help incarcerated people?
6. Is the tech provider classified as an ed tech company or a telecom company? If telecom, education is bolted on and not the purpose of the company.
7. Is student access to Microsoft Office, Canvas, Blackboard, etc. a full version, or are there restrictions in usability that will hamper students’ learning experiences?
8. Does the technology impact academic and intellectual freedom?
9. How much of the DOC annual budget is allocated to education and ed tech?
10. Do college students get a range of  college experiences, or do they just study and test?