JPAY KIOSKS CONTINUE TO MALFUNCTION - IDOC REFUSES TO ENFORCE CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS FOR SERVICE

For months, JPay kiosks at the ISCC have been malfunctioning, and despite requests to both JPay and the IDOC for repairs, the system continues to prevent prisoners from syncing their tablets.

The system operates like this (well, it's supposed to operate like this...): First order of business is that the tablet must be synchronized (sync'd) to one of the two wall-mounted kiosks on the unit/tier where the prisoner is housed. This is done by plugging the tablet into the kiosk using a micro USB cord that is permanently attached to the kiosk using a mechanical fastener.

Once the kiosk recognizes the tablet and security credentials are created/verified, firmware on the tablet is updated, and certain applications (apps) are downloaded from the kiosk onto the tablet. The tablet is then good to go (in theory anyway). Due to a built-in mortality script, the tablet must by sync'd every so often to the kiosk or it will lock, preventing access even by the owner. Sometimes, the tablet has a "nervous breakdown" and just needs to be sync'd to get it to operate (properly) again.

In order to purchase a game or movie one must download a catalog from the kiosk to the tablet. A (limited) music catalog may also be downloaded to the tablet. Catalog updates are generally available weekly. Movie and game catalogs cannot be viewed (or movies/games ordered) on the kiosk. The commissary menu (and ordering), inmate (trust) account data and the full music catalog can be accessed only on the kiosk.

If they have money on their Jpay (media) account, prisoners may order music, a movie or game which will be downloaded to their tablet next time the tablet is successfully sync'd to the kiosk. Purchased music can also be downloaded to the tablet via wifi. Prisoners can also purchase a monthly subscription to the Newsstand, an app that downloads Associated Press (AP) news to the tablet once a day, but only when the tablet is sync'd to the kiosk.

Some things can be downloaded or accessed from the JPay system via wifi - when it works anyway. Music which has been purchased, the (so-called) "law library" can be accessed from the tablet via wifi or kiosk. Incoming videograms can be downloaded to the tablet via wifi, but can only be created and sent via the kiosk as the tablets have no camera or microphone.

Emails can be drafted, received and sent either on the kiosk or tablet (via wifi), as can correspondence via the (completely ineffectual) Communications Center app where prisoners can compose Concern forms, report (JPay) system problems using Trouble Tickets, request public records and address other issues.

Problem (or problemS) is - if you'll excuse my ebonics - that most of the time, one or both of the kiosks on the unit will not sync with the tablets, or don't work at all. In a few instances, the micro USB cord/connector on the kiosk is damaged, though in the majority of the time, the problem is systemic - something in the (kiosk/server) software prevents kiosks from recognizing that tablets are plugged in. In other instances, kiosks are either offline, or completely powered down, and/or the wifi is either offline, intermittent or so slow that apps on the tablet time out.

The accepted means of prisoners to report problems with kiosks, wifi, etc. is to write/submit an aforementioned Trouble Ticket. This communication goes directly to JPay, and is supposed to initiate a repair. Unfortunately, only one trouble ticket may exist at a time (per inmate), the drop-down (available subject) menu often does not contain or describe the issue of concern, it takes somewhere around 2 weeks to get a response to the problem described, the response is generally not applicable to the problem reported, and is more often than not a "canned" response.

Being unable to sync a tablet prevents prisoners from repairing tablet problems, and downloading purchased media, be it games, or more problematic due to delay, Newsstand downloads. While a daily news download can be downloaded up to a week after its original publication date, this is the equivalent of receiving newspapers that are already a week old. If, as recently happened to me, the kiosk would not sync to my tablet for the last 3 days of my subscription, I am just out of luck, and money - with no recourse.

One would think that the millions of dollars of profit realized by JPay and Securus every year from the pockets of prisoners and their families, there would be a bit more attention paid to keeping the system up and running, and maybe even few upgrades to the system so as to realize even more profit... but not here. This is why there are laws against monopolies - except for prisoner service/vendor contracts.

More importantly, one would think that the IDOC, realizing hundreds of thousands of dollars every year on kickbacks (okay, they call it "commissions"...) from JPay on inmate purchases and downloads, along with the contractual obligations between the entities would require the system to be up and running - at least most of the time. Apparently not. Because this (kickback) money ends up in the state's General Fund, this is YOUR tax money being left on the table.

If you are having issues communicating with an Idaho prisoner via JPay, or your incarcerated family/friends are unable to sync their tablet to a kiosk, send/receive emails or having other problems that JPay refuses to address, contact the IDOC (JPay) Contract Manager at the IDOC Central Office at (208) 658-2000.