Miguel Perez just wants to better educate himself as he awaits trial on racketeering charges at the Land O’ Lakes Detention Center.
The 53-year-old inmate has an added tool to do that, thanks to the jail’s new tablet program.
Last month, the detention center distributed over 200 Google Nexus 7 tablets to be shared among nearly 1,700 inmates.
Its primary focus is on education and rehabilitation.
The tablets, secure and unable to connect to the Internet, come preloaded with various learning and spiritual applications, such as Kahn Academy and Calm.
Kahn Academy features in-depth reading material, interactive videos, virtual museum tours and TED Talks, as well as GED prep education, math, engineering, humanities, economics, science and college career prep studies; Calm helps inmates deal with substance abuse, anxiety and emotional trauma.
“There’s just so much in there — algebra, physics, economics, biology,” Perez said. “It goes from ‘A to Z.’”
The tablets, equipped with protective hard shell cases, were donated to the jail by Telmate, a leading provider of secure inmate communication systems, at no cost to Pasco County taxpayers. Other county jail systems in the state, including Flagler and Walton counties, have implemented similar educational tablet programs.
Perez, like others, has been glued to a tablet since they were delivered Aug. 17.
“It is amazing; I really love it,” Perez said. “Instead of wasting time playing cards or doing nothing or walking around moping, you can actually do something with your mind and your life.”
He added: “We’ve made a mistake — whatever we’ve done — so it gives us the option to fix it…and move forward in a positive manner.”
Besides learning apps, the tablets come equipped with a law library and inmate staff requests. There are also email capabilities, for a small commissary fee.
The tablets also have pre-downloaded religious texts, including the Bible and Koran.
That feature is especially meaningful to 46-year-old inmate Doney Bedford, who’s awaiting trial on drug possession charges. He aspires to become a theologian, as he receives credits for college education through mail-in correspondence courses.
“It’s got every possible translation of the Bible, it’s got the Koran, it’s got Aramaic Hebrew, and the history of the Bible. It’s an endless supply of information,” Bedford explained.
Bedford also uses the tablet to dive into subjects like ancient Egyptian history, which helps him to effectively use his jail time.
“When you have something like this, to educate yourself, it just broadens your horizons,” Bedford said.
“These resources are very, very good for us, so that way we can learn to better ourselves and become better, productive men of society,” he added.
Another inmate, 31-year-old Christopher Murgatroyd, says the tablets have even eased tensions within his housing unit.
“The pod detention is less since they’ve came in,” Murgatroyd, a combat veteran incarcerated on charges of driving on a suspended license and first-time driving under the influence.
“It’s serving more than one purpose, actually; education really helps a lot.”
Inmates get access to the tablets in their cells, and anytime outside of lockdown, said Maj. Stacey Jenkins, who supervises the Security Services Section of the Court Services Bureau at the Sheriff’s Office. Each is assigned a unique pin number and login into tablets via facial recognition technology.
Some inmates, however, will not have access to the tablets, including those in disciplinary confinement or in the medical wing.
“Every shift change (tablets) are going to have to be accounted for by the deputies,” Jenkins said.
Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco emphasized the importance of the tablet initiative, especially for detention centers where inmates have shorter stays before they’re reintegrated into society.
The jail’s average stay is 67 days. That includes those held without bond or unable to post bail set by the courts, those being transferred from other states or counties while awaiting trial in Pasco County, or those found guilty and sentenced to serve less than one year.
Said Nocco: “I know a lot of times citizens and maybe some of our members are going to be like, ‘I can’t believe we’re giving inmates tablets.’ Well, a lot of these people are going to go back into the community. If you don’t give them the opportunity to succeed, then they’re going to be right back in here again.”
Another potential bonus from the program, Nocco added, is the possibility of gaining intelligence regarding ongoing criminal activity outside jail cells.
“We gain a lot of information through these tablets. We know who’s putting money into their accounts, we know who they’re talking to, and we can read their emails,” Nocco explained.
“A lot of information that we gain is from people in here, of criminal operations that still may be going on in the streets. We’re gaining that from a firsthand knowledge, and then we’re able to react to it very quickly and be proactive on the street, whereas a lot of times this information falls through the cracks.”
Meanwhile, jail officials say more apps will be loaded over time. Many will still center on education and self-help.
Perez, for one, believes an app that teaches basic life skills “would be very helpful” for fellow inmates.
“Some guys here can’t even reconcile a bank account or fill out a job application,” he said.
“Some of them could benefit from an app that could teach a basic work skill, or just teach them about doing the right thing, getting up on time, going to work,” he said.
Published September 6, 2017
