Allegheny County is charging inmates to read books

[spinbaby]

https://www.pittsburghcurrent.com/fahrenheit-412-new-rule-bans-allegheny-county-jail-inmates-from-receiving-books-reading-limited-to-214-select-e-books/

From the article:

“ Yesterday I woke up in Fahrenheit 451,” says Hush, a musical artist, and activist, by phone Nov. 17 from the Allegheny County Jail. His reference was to the 1953 Ray Bradbury Novel that tells the story about a dystopian future where books are banned and burned.

On Monday, Nov. 16, the ACJ’s incarcerated population received a memo from warden Orlando Harper that read: “Effective Monday, Nov. 16, 2020, the Allegheny County Jail shall no longer accept books from Barnesandnoble.com and Christianbooks.com. Inmates living in our facility now have the ability to read over 214 free books and 49 free religious books through our tablet program. Inmates…also have access to a wide variety of books through the leisure library on each pod.”

The ACJ’s “tablet program” began earlier this year after the county inked a new contract with Global Tel*Link. The new deal provided inmate with tablets that they could use for entertainment purposes, to photos and videos from their families and to have video visits. The problem is, each of these services costs money out of an inmate’s pocket and baked on those fee, Allegheny County receives kickbacks from the telecom company of more than $4 million. Inmates do get roughly an hour-and-a-half of free credits. But after that they are charged anywhere from three-to-five cents per minute.”

(Snip)

“I love to read,” Hush says. “I’ve got a box full of books in here. But, now I’m being limited to only certain titles and if I want to read longer than my free credits allow, then I have to pay. With a book, I’m not charged by the minute.

[Sherman A1]

1. More of the for profit $$$$$$ prison industry

this is disgusting.

[Beakybird]

2. Sick!

[csziggy]

3. 214 books would not keep me busy for half a year!

This is cruel and unnecessary! So if people want to GIVE books to inmates, they are not allowed to?

[exboyfil]

6. No

Have to come from approved sources to prevent contraband. That being said the tablets should be hooked up to an Ebook lending library of 1000s of free books. I can't imagine restricting something as benign as reading - we are an awful society.

[csziggy]

7. Most public libraries now have thousands of books that can be "check out"

Why don't they steer some of that revenue towards their local resources?

That said, when I looked into what our local public library offered in ebooks, I was disappointed. I only began using ebooks for my trip to the UK. I was gone for almost four months and needed to download enough books for that entire period. The library only allowed "checking out" books for two weeks so that was useless to me.

I ended up buying Megapacks of science fiction books from Amazon for $0.99 each - got thirty of those and I am up to volume 26. They are anthologies of old SF books - right now I am reading stories by Eric Flint written and originally published in the 1920s. He was very far sighted in his writing. I also bought some other books, but those were a large percentage of what I took with me on my tablet.

I wonder if the Allegheny Jail would accept purchases of ebooks for the inmates? Or how about access to Archives.org? They have thousands of digital books and magazines - most are old enough to be out of copyright, but still would give acess to more than a pitiful 214 books.

[exboyfil]

8. Hoopla is tremendous if your local library has access to it

My local library limits it to three books a month though.

I use mostly audiobooks because I exercise a lot. Fire compatible ebooks are nice because I can get my Fire tablet to narrate in a computer generated voice to me (Android has a way to do it as well with your Smartphone, but it is not as clean).

I will check out those Megapacks. Thanks for the suggestion. 0.99 is worth it to even get one story you are interested in.

[csziggy]

10. There are two groups of Science Fiction megapacks - and other types of pulp fiction

I'm working my way through the Golden Age of Science Fiction, but there are also just Science Fiction megapacks. There are megapacks for specific authors, such as Keith Laumer or Zane Grey, or for specialty areas such as Black Magic or Cthulhu.

When I searched for "Kindle Megapacks" I got twenty pages in the result!

[TuxedoKat]

9. What state are you from

Most libraries have reciprocal agreements with other library systems in the same state and will give ecards to people outside their system. I have about 6-7 library cards from libraries in my state. Also, I've been able to download books from overseas to my iPad from US libraries.

I like the idea of the sci-fi Megapacks though. Have you ever read anything by Richard Wilson? Any writers that you'd recommend besides Eric Flint?

[csziggy]

12. I'm in Leon County, Florida

Our library system is isolated because Tallahassee is the only metropolitan area in the state for about a hundred miles. At the time I was checking out what they offered I was mostly planning for my trip so didn't bother seeing how much they offered and if they had availability from other systems. I'll have to check to see if they have reciprocal arrangements with other systems.

Mostly I am a book person and like to have a hard copy in my hands, but a tablet is fantastic for trips. Unless, of course, you are in Northern Scotland with no connectivity. But since finding the megapacks, I love that I can get my eyes on the really old SF that is hard to find in either the originals or reprints. My science fiction library is huge, but I've found stories and authors that I could get else where - or I can keep from adding wear to my collectible editions.

I'm pretty eclectic about the science fiction writers I enjoy but I do lean towards the pre-1980 stuff. I'm sure I've read Richard Wilson works, but nothing comes to mind right now. Fritz Leiber comes to mind since I just saw that they have the entire Fafherd and Mouser series in megapacks (but not at $0.99). Andre Norton, Lester del Rey, Frederik Pohl, and others who wrote under various pseudonyms but whose works are collected together in the megapacks.

[Newest Reality]

4. Well,

Well, somebody HAS to profit in neo-Liberal capitalism, right?

The benefits of free access for various reasons, (learning, being uplifted, etc.) don't outweigh the value of commerce and the prisoners are a captive audience, pun intended.

[exboyfil]

5. Prisons are very specific about where books can come from

I came across that when I purchased legal books for my aunt in the California DOP. These prices are usually greater than can be found at other locations.

The reason they do it is security so as to prevent contraband from coming into the system.

That being said. Charging prisoners to read leisure books is awful. I can't imagine taking that one comfort away from them.

[Crunchy Frog]

11. This country is too corrupt to live.

[Wounded Bear]

13. Hell, we should probably be paying them to read more...