Incarcerated people in some West Virginia prisons will reportedly be charged to read ebooks. The magazine Reason reports that inmates will have to pay 3 cents per minute to use tablets that have been provided to them for free to access books, music, or games. The ebooks that they would be reading are available through Project Gutenberg, an online library that offers roughly 60,000 ebooks, all of which are free to the public. But charges for using the tablets to read those free books will bring in money for Global Tel Link, the private company that has the contract to provide them.
That’s right: These incarcerated people are reportedly to be charged to read books that are free to everyone else. And as the nonprofit Appalachian Prison Book Project points out, inmates who read can end up paying more money to use the tablets than they make in wages. According to the Prison Policy Initiative’s 2017 estimates, incarcerated people in West Virginia earn between 4 and 58 cents per hour.
Countless studies show that reading can reduce stress levels, slow cognitive decline, and improve social skills. Psychology reviews have also suggested that reading can improve a person’s level of empathy.
For a variety of reasons, people read at different speeds. For example, people who are second-language learners, live with certain disabilities, or simply prefer a slower pace are going to end up spending more to read the same text than someone who speed reads. If you want to reread a book for pleasure or fresh understanding, you’re paying for that privilege again—unlike if you were not incarcerated and rented a book from a library (or purchased it outright).
The solution is to stop charging vulnerable people to read books. Especially free books.
Reason reports that the institution of charges for using the tablets stem from a 2019 contract between the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the company that provides the tablets, Global Tel Link (GTL). The contract has reportedly been in effect since February.
Incarcerated people can use the tablets for activities other than reading, but doing so will continue to cost them. For example, people can use them to send text messages or video messages, or to listen to music. The cost for using the tablets for these activities is 25 cents per written text, 50 cents per picture message, 3 cents per minute to listen to music, and one dollar per video attachment. As The Daily Dot reports, GTL says that some services can be accessed on the tablets for free, but it’s unclear which services those actually are.
“It is reprehensible to price-gouge a literally captive audience,” Marlene Cook, president of the Prison Book Program, told Gizmodo. Speaking to The Root, David Fathi, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project, said that the situation in West Virginia prisons is “an attempt to monetize the most basic forms of human contact and to profit from prisoners and their families.”
The West Virginia Division of Corrections told Gizmodo that it still collects print book donations, so the tablet use is optional.