TECHNOLOGY BEHIND BARS: A Comparative Study of Opinions on U.S. Prisoners’ Access To Information and Communication Technology

Abstract

People in the United States live in a world that is surrounded by technology and incarceration. With millions of people reentering society every year, how have actors in the United States viewed incarcerated individuals’ access to Information and Communication Technology, especially as it pertains to addressing issues surrounding reentry and the goals of institutions.. This thesis aims to examine the opinions of these various actors and place the conversation in a comparative perspective with the world’s first prison system that has provided prisoners access to the Internet in Belgium’s Beveren Prison in Antwerp. From these interviews, I found that some jails and prisons in the United States has begun to be more accepting of ICT access, under the form of tablets exclusively, during the last two decades. Comparing these results to other interviewed groups including advocacy organizations, I evaluate the effect of rehabilitation research that has emerged in recent years on changing the landscape and goals of penal institutions.

Keywords: Information and Communication Technology (ICT), incarcerated individual, United States, New Jersey, Belgium, PrisonCloud, tablets