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09 - Lost and Stolen Tablets

Lost and Stolen Tablets:

Hey, readers. The other day here at Blessington, all of us (so it appears) collectively received this message (edited lightly for conversion to Markdown format):

We have received your report regarding your lost or stolen tablet. You are currently ineligible to receive a replacement tablet. You must take action with both FL DOC and JPay to determine why you are ineligible.

FL DOC policy requires that a lost or stolen tablet be reported immediately. The report can be made to the housing officer or property sergeant. You did not report this loss in the required timeframe, and your account is temporarily suspended.

You must take certain steps to determine when the temporary suspension will be lifted.

  • Contact FL DOC Classification to determine if the agency has put a suspension on your account.
  • If the agency has put a suspension on your account, you will need to wait until they lift the suspension.
  • You SHOULD NOT contact JPay about receiving a replacement until the suspension is lifted.
  • If the agency has not put a suspension on your account, JPay will issue you a replacement tablet after you pay the cost associated with the lost or stolen tablet.
  • After you have confirmed that the agency has not put a suspension on your account, submit a "RMA" Comm Center ticket to JPay for more information on paying the cost and getting a replacement tablet.

If you would like more information, please review FL DOC policy at Chapter 33-602.900, in your facility's library. You should also review the JPay Terms of Service, which are available on the kiosk.

If your replacement tablet is lost or stolen in the future, make sure to report it immediately to the housing officer or property sergeant.

Reading the current generation of terms and service from a tablet (it's not on the kiosk as they so claim), the cost of a tablet is $300.00, but people across the secured, invitation-only bed and breakfast network of Florida are being informed that it is just $129.99+local tax (7.5% here in Blessington, so $139.74).

Paying this fee does not guarantee you will receive a prompt replacement, nor does it guarantee you a new tablet as replacement. You will likely receive a refurbished piece of kit, whenever they feel like getting around to you.

F.A.C. Chapter 33-602.900, in a nutshell

This bit of the Florida Administrative Code, Chapter 33, which governs the Department of Corrections, has a bit of text in it that says to people like me, you have ten days to report to your dorm officer or the property sergeant that your tablet has been lost or stolen, and form DC2-610 must be filled out by that officer.

There's a problem with that:
We rely on the officer to do the paperwork and submit it.
The reality is, if there is no incentive for the officer to do this, they won't bother to do the paperwork.

Losing tablets through no control of our own

That's a problem that happens. If you're on a compound where something breaks out, and you get put in confinement for your safety, you do not get to pack your own things. You aren't even there for the packing process!
An officer is supposed to pack and inventory your possessions; that officer will frequently delegate that task to an orderly** or two. Orderlies are residents like I am; there is no guarantee, as so, that they will do an honest job of packing your effects. Your tablet (among other items) went missing during this process.

You may have sent your tablet out for charging in the communal charging station. A half hour after it was sent, they call a lockdown; you do not receive your tablet back at this time. You go to your cell, close the door, and go nowhere for three days.
Officers come through and ransack the place. One spot they hit was the charging station; they found a couple of rooted tablets, so they took every tablet for checking by Securus.
You do not receive a confiscation slip for the tablet, and no officer wants to file the DC2-610 required.

It's transfer day, and you're rolled up to go to a new camp. Maybe it's an incentivized camp, where they add a games room to entertain you. Maybe it's a Faith and Character Based Camp. Who knows?
I know you have to be inventoried by officers during this process. During the inventorying, your tablet is removed, and no receipt is given. You can't even do anything in this situation.
Or, on the bus, you have a couple of slugs ooze over your stuff and see the orange tablet case. Because no officer sits with the prisoners to keep control, you are harangued into giving up your tablet to hopefully ensure your continued safety.

The new camp's officer won't do anything when you arrive, either. You... have no tablet, and get no DC2-610.

So We Get Plapped Coming and Going

All of that, to say we get screwed over by a broken system charging us $130+ for what is clearly a tablet imported from overseas, made by an original design manufacturer (ODM) in bulk for $20 (or less) per unit because of the sheer quantity of units purchased. Remember, Florida has 80,000+ prisoners, and we are definitely not the only market that Securus services -- there's at least 12 county jails in Florida using Securus, plus state prisons and county jails across 40% of America's prison and jail population.

Securus keeps that ODM busybusy with orders, and is likely being provided a covert opportunity to make yet more money off our loved ones, often while reselling our very own stolen tablets back to us.

How do these people sleep at night? :')
I'm sure our bed and breakfast network would offer them a bed to try for a few years.