California death row inmates are exploiting state-issued tablets to access pornography and contact minors, raising urgent questions about Governor Gavin Newsom's prison reform programme.
ACity Journal investigation published on 13 May 2026found that condemned prisoners are using taxpayer-funded devices to watch pornographic content, conduct sexually explicit conversations, and in at least one federal case, sexually exploit a child. The exposé centres on a £145 million ($189 million) tablet contract covering nearly 90,000 state prisoners, issued under an initiative the Newsom administration framed as a step toward 'digital equity' for incarcerated individuals. A former senior California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) official told reporters the abuse may involve thousands of child victims.
California's tablet programme began as a pilot in 2018 and reached nearly all state prisoners by 2023. Under Governor Newsom, the CDCR awarded a new four-year contract to Securus Technologies to replace the previous vendor, Viapath.
CalMatters reported in March 2026that the Securus deal runs to £145 million ($189 million), with provisions for four one-year extensions that could push total expenditure to approximately £242 million ($315 million).
The state positioned the rollout as a rehabilitation tool, providing inmates access to educational content, family communication, and legal resources. Critically, CDCR regulations do not restrict device access based on offence type. Child sex offenders, serial killers, and rapists receive the same unrestricted tablet allocation as any other prisoner, with no age verification applied to incoming communications.
City Journal reporters contacted dozens of condemned prisoners directly, and those who responded described a consistent pattern of abuse. Robert Maury, convicted ofthree murders and a rape in the 1980sand now held at a Stockton facility, told the outlet he received a topless image from an outside contact and has watched pornography relayed through live video calls. He said inmates who grew up with the internet consistently find workarounds to state content filters.
EXCLUSIVE: California spent nearly $189 million to give every state prisoner a free iPad. We interviewed a dozen death row inmates, who told us that prisoners are using the tablets to watch porn, engage in x-rated chats, and groom minors on the outside.https://t.co/bpmvDB6vPm
Samuel Amador,sentenced to death for murder, described cycling between explicit videos delivered in '30-second clips' and footage of his family. He acknowledged guards occasionally intercept lewd messages but said prisoners routinely circumvent those controls. Jamar Tucker, held at High Desert State Prison for killing three men, confirmed he uses sexually suggestive images received via the tablet for personal gratification.
The CDCR, when contacted by City Journal, described the devices as 'tightly controlled education tools' that provide inmates with 'access to the Bible, education, and reentry resources that actually reduce crime.' The accounts given by named death row inmates stand in direct contradiction to that characterisation.
The most serious documented case involves Nathaniel Ray Diaz, 21, of Greenfield, California. According to aDOJ press release dated 21 April 2025, Diaz was already serving a three-year sentence at Avenal State Prison for lewd acts against a 12-year-old when he used a CDCR-issued tablet and prison phone system to contact the same victim again, in violation of an existing 10-year no-contact order.
Source: International Business Times UK
