West Virginia inmates have to pay per-minute to read e-books on tablets

Once again illustrating that prisons are big business and some “gifts” should be questioned, inmates in 10 West Virginia prisons are being charged 3 cents a minute to read books on free tablets donated by Global Tel Link (GTL).

Even though the books all come from Project Gutenberg, a free online library that houses more than 60,000 titles all in the public domain, under a contract hashed out this year between the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation (WVDCR) and GTL, inmates are given a fee structure to read the free books on the tablets, reported Reason.

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According to the contract, outlined by Appalachian Prison Book Project, inmates will be charged $0.03 per minute to read books on their tablets, listen to music, or play games; $0.25 per minute for written messages and $0.50 to forward a photo with a message. And on top of this, WVDCR will get a 5 percent commission on all gross revenues.

Meanwhile inmates in West Virginia made between $0.04 and $0.58 an hour in 2017, according to The Prison Policy Initiative.

The Appalachian Prison Book Project, a nonprofit that gives free books to prisoners, called the book reading fee predatory.

“If you pause to think or reflect, that will cost you,” Katy Ryan, the project’s founder told Reason. “If you want to reread a book, you will pay the entire cost again. This is about generating revenue for the state and profit for the industry. Tablets under non-predatory terms could be a very good thing inside prisons. GTL does not provide that.”

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A WVDCR spokesperson countered that the tablets are optional and that the agency does not restrict inmates from purchasing or receiving book donations in print form.

GTL has not responded to Reason’s request for comment.

In an email to the Appalachian Prison Book Project, Greg Newby, who heads up the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, said it’s an unfortunate situation.

“It’s all very sad,” Newby wrote, reported Reason.