California has never been shy about spending big on ambitious social experiments.
But even by Sacramento standards, the latest controversy surrounding the state prison system is raising eyebrows — and likely blood pressure among taxpayers footing the bill.
A program originally pitched as a modern rehabilitation effort is now under scrutiny after reports revealed inmates were using state-issued technology for far less lofty purposes.
According to a blistering report from Christopher Rufo and Haley Strack forCity Journal, as part of sweeping rehabilitation reforms, Newsom approved a program that would see Golden State inmates receive some “free” technology, which in reality was closer to a $189 million price tag for California taxpayers.
Specifically, those inmates were all reportedly given basic tablets.
The program, which ran from 2018 to 2023, was touted as “digital equity” for “justice impacted” people, and as a simple way for inmates to contact family and consume educational content.
Rufo and Strack, who had “contacted dozens of death-row inmates,” reported those inmates are saying that those tablets aren’t exactly being used for those purposes.
Those tablets are apparently being used for pornography consumption and explicit sexual conversations.
More disconcertingly, a former high-ranking California corrections official told Rufo and Strack that some inmates were using tablets to groom minors.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation vociferously denied this report, telling the journalists that these devices were “tightly controlled education tools,” and only provided access to “the Bible, education, and reentry resources that actually reduce crime.”
Source: VidNews » Feed
