State considers e-mail access for inmates
Messages that would be screened for security could be swapped with a limited list of outsiders.
By WILLIAM PETROSKI
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
Copyright 2007, Des Moines Register and Tribune Company
Published September 4, 2007
Prison may be one of the last places without easy access to e-mail, but Iowa inmates could be checking their messages in the future.
The Iowa Department of Corrections is studying a plan to install sophisticated software to provide a tightly restricted version of e-mail for the 8,900 convicts in the state's prison system.
Inmates could swap e-mail messages with a limited list of relatives and friends, and the software would screen the communications for any hint of trouble, said Fred Scaletta, a prison spokesman.
Convicts would not be allowed to carry BlackBerry wireless devices or Apple iPhones to receive their e-mail. Instead, they would use surplus government computers in designated prison areas where e-mail use would be supervised, Scaletta said.
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