Investigation shuts down texting, email, tablet-based phone calls for inmates and families

The South Dakota Department of Corrections has suspended tablet-based phone calls, texting and email services for inmates and their families due to what the DOC has described as “an investigation pending resolution” tied to inmate tablet computers. 

The tablets are provided at no cost to the state by the private company GTL, which also contracts with the DOC for inmate telephone services. The state is responsible for setting up a wireless network and managing the distribution of tablets and sale of headphones. 

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The state gets a cut of the money inmates spend to use tablet services, and families are able to deposit money for their inmates using GTL platforms. Inmates can send messages, make phone calls, play digital games, listen to music, take courses and access legal research using the tablets. The tablets replaced physical law libraries in 2017.

Some services, such as the law libraries and basic education courses, are free for inmates to use. Other services, like music streaming, can cost 3 to 5 cents per minute. Family members pay 25 cents per message; inmates pay 13 cents per message. 

Inmates are not allowed to use social media or otherwise surf the out-of-prison internet with their tablets, but their friends and family members had been able to communicate using the ConnectNetwork website or a mobile app called “Getting Out” until about two weeks ago.

Inmate messages and emails, like landline and tablet phone calls, are subject to monitoring.

DOC Public Information Officer Michael Winder, who does not take phone calls from the media, confirmed last week via email that messaging has been suspended indefinitely, but that inmates are still able to use the shared telephones in each facility and to send and receive letters. 

The DOC posted a notice about the tablet service suspension to its website on Wednesday, calling it an “investigation pending resolution,” and saying the restrictions began on March 8. 

Winder did not immediately respond to questions about any potential security breach related to the tablets, the number of shared phones available in each facility or any potential security impact from the sudden shutdown of tablet communication. It affects approximately 3,700 inmates across facilities in Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Pierre, Yankton and Springfield.

South Dakota Searchlight reached out to GTL’s media email address to ask about network security issues, but has yet to receive a response.

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Wesley Jarabek, an inmate at the DOC’s minimum security unit in Rapid City, said he calls his wife and children two or three times a day at a cost of 6 cents per minute, until recently using a tablet or a landline. On a landline, which is now the only option, inmates in Rapid City get five free minutes each day, he said, and pay for 20 minutes a time after that.

He said tablet calls are preferable. Calls made via tablet aren’t subject to the 20-minute limit, and he can place a tablet call nearly any time of day, without waiting in line or talking in louder common areas.

At this point, he said, he and his fellow inmates are waiting as long as 45 minutes in line at peak times to use one of the six landlines in the unit.

“The tension is rising due to the lack of phones in here,” Jarabek said Monday. “I know that like yesterday there was almost a physical fist fight over phones … we can’t call on the tablets, we can’t message, and having to stand and wait forever to get in line for the phone is aggravating.”

The loss of messaging has been frustrating, as well, he said, in part because his wife can no longer send photos of the family or relay quick bits of information to keep him connected.

Word in the halls is that the shutoff is related to a security threat, he said. 

“As far as what we’ve been told is that somebody from inside the prison hacked the GTL system and was making threats to some type of staff,” said Jarabek. 

Members of a Facebook support group for the families of South Dakota inmates have expressed frustration, as well, and some posted messages to say they’ve heard similar explanations from their incarcerated loved ones. 

One of them, Nieema Thasing of Brookings, was frustrated by sudden error notices when she tried messaging “my guys” last week. She called Amber Pirraglia, the DOC’s director of prisons, but Pirraglia did not tell her about threats or hacking, only that the messaging system was under investigation.

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Thasing posted her summary of the conversation to the Facebook group in hopes of shedding some light on the situation. She was frustrated first by the error messages from GTL, but also by the lack of an explanation for the families who deposit funds in inmate accounts to stay in touch.

“It was ‘Hey, you’re going to be down for a while,’ and not saying exactly why,” Thasing said.

Tablets have become more common in correctional settings since 2017, the year they first arrived at the South Dakota DOC. The Minnehaha County Jail allows inmates to check out tablets, and started doing so at the same time the DOC tablets arrived. That county jail, located in Sioux Falls, has a fee-based system for messaging, but also offers free e-books to inmates. Warden Mike Mattson told South Dakota Searchlight that inmates can also earn entertainment credits through the completion of tablet-based coursework. 

Helene Duhamel, spokesperson for the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, said her West River county is exploring the possibility of tablet availability at the Rapid City jail. 

Both the Juvenile Services Center and county jail have “chirpers,” which are slightly larger than a cell phone and can be used for text messaging. At the jail, inmates pay a fee for messaging, Duhamel said. At the juvenile facility, the use of the devices is a reward.

“It’s an incentive to behave,” Duhamel said.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated since its original publication. An earlier version said inmates at the Minnehaha County Jail are charged a fee to check out tablets.