Federal inmate text messages offer family members an affordable means to stay in touch with incarcerated loved ones. This type of communication is effective at reducing feelings of alienation that accompany prison life and can improve the odds of successful community reintegration after release. Despite its benefits, the practice has also raised security concerns and questions about privacy.
Inmates in the United States can use email and texting services to communicate with their friends and families, but they must adhere to strict rules that govern these communications. For example, inmates must use a government-approved platform and be pre-approved by an outside contact to receive electronic messages. The federal Bureau of Prisons has established TRULINCS and Corrlinks as these official platforms for communicating with inmates, and these systems come with certain limitations that can limit how much information an inmate is able to send or receive.
The TRULINCS and Corrlinks public messaging system allows incarcerated people to write to their contacts using a computerized system that looks like an ordinary cellphone. https://contactmeasap.com/blog/federal-prison-texting-keeping-in-touch-with-loved-ones-from-behind-bars/ are sent from the inmate’s JPay account to their outside contact’s personal email inbox on the Corrlinks platform, and then the outside contact can read and reply to these messages. Inmates can receive up to 6,000 characters per message and may include attachments and video messages. Those who want to contact an inmate can log onto the JPay website and search for an individual’s prisoner ID number to access their inmate profile.
While e-messaging can help inmates and their outside contacts maintain stronger connections, it also raises security concerns about the potential for these conversations to be intercepted by criminals and contraband smugglers who are attempting to plan illegal activity or bring contraband into prison facilities. As a result, it’s important for inmates and their families to be mindful of these security concerns while using these communication services, and there needs to be more stringent policies that protect the privacy of incarcerated individuals and their loved ones.
To avoid the risk of having an email message intercepted by a criminal or contraband smuggler, family and friends must never forward messages to other recipients. This can lead to disciplinary action, and inmates who are found guilty of this offense might lose their TRULINCS or Corrlinks privileges for several months. However, if an inmate asks his or her outside contact not to forward emails, the request will probably fall within the scope of plausible deniability and might mitigate any possible damaging consequences.
In addition, while a person can choose to include his or her attorney and any other legal representative on his or her message contact list, these legal representatives are not considered privileged communications and the inmate must accept that any email exchanges with them will be monitored. Inmates must understand that any information they exchange via these channels could be used against them, and should consider seeking a private attorney in their local area to discuss these issues further.