Inmate Kiosks Help States Save Money and Comply with Law

Inmate Kiosks Help States Save Money and Comply with Law

A new legal information kiosk will change the way prisons comply with court mandates requiring inmate access to the law. The wall-mounted kiosks with shatterproof touch screens have already been installed in corrections facilities in Hawaii and Riverside County, CA.

The kiosks, called the TSTLL, were developed specifically for prisons by Touch Sonic Technologies and feature legal research from LexisNexis, a provider of legal, news, and business information services.

Most prison libraries offer legal books, which can be damaged or lost, and are quickly outdated. With these kiosks, corrections departments are expected to save hundreds of thousands of dollars on costly law books, while offering comprehensive and current legal information to inmates. States also stand to save money with fewer prisoner complaints about lack of access to legal research, which comprise substantial numbers of the inmate lawsuits filed.

In addition to ensuring access to current legal information, the TSTLL unit allows the correctional facility to track the usage of each inmate through a login, providing a record that can be used to defend allegations of non-access.

"We designed the TSTLL to work in a corrections environment where safety is a big concern, so we built in not only safety features like a shatterproof screen but flexibility to locate the kiosk within the cellblock," said Jack Long, vice president of Touch Sonic Technologies. "We also know that inmates are dealing with time constraints and in many cases limited knowledge of the law, and we developed a system that offers options to both new and advanced users."

TSTLL units have been installed in four correctional centers in Hawaii (Hawaii Community Correctional Center, Kauai Community Correctional Center, Women's Community Correctional Center, Kulani Correctional Facility) and five facilities in Riverside County, CA (Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility, Blythe Jail, Indio Jail, Robert Presley Detention Centers, Southwest Detention Center).

"The prisoners who have tried the kiosk use it quite frequently and most became experts in just a few minutes of use," said Harry Fuchigami, librarian at the Women's Community Correctional Center in Kailua, Hawaii. "I use the system myself because it's much easier to look up statutes using the touch screen than it is with our books."

In a survey of prisoners in Hawaii, 74 percent ranked the kiosk easier to use than law books; 71 percent said the speed of search was faster. All of the librarians surveyed in Hawaii had a positive impression after their first use of the kiosk.

The inmates in Hawaii and California have access to the same high-quality legal research used by law firms in the country. This includes access to state codes, court cases on the state and federal level, and resources like law dictionaries and guides to criminal defense. The research provided eliminates the need to offer Internet access from the kiosk.

For more information on LexisNexis Total Re-search System, visit: http://www.lexisnexis.com.

For more information on Touch Sonic Technologies, visit: http://www.touchsonic.com.