Johnny E. Mahaffey
December 2, 2018 (#2)

HOW PRISONER "EMAIL" WORKS
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In every building--or "dorm" as they call them--we have three computers mounted on the wall, in stainless-steel casings, on each side of each dorm. I can access this "Kiosk" (they've dubbed it), with my SCDC# and my own password. This is used to send request to staff members, and/or departments. Say, I need to see the coach about hobbycraft, I can't just go there, I have to send him a request, and he sends me a pass or an order to report to the gym. Kiosks also give us access to our email accounts. We can receive, and send emails--no attachments, photos, etc. Only text. When a friend, family member, or whoever, wants to email, they have to go to

www.offenderconnect.com

An account must be set up--the cost of each email is 0.25 The catch is, that prisoners cannot load their account--meaning that every time someone writes me, I cannot reply unless they send me a credit to reply. Or, if someone sent me a bunch of them to stock me up for a while. I can have thousands of dollars on my prison account, just like we do with the phone. I just don't like the idea of people having to pay to talk to me, I'd much rather cover the cost myself--like I do with the phone. I'm actually loading some more funds on someone's phone number this week, so that I can call them at no cost to them. Friends are hard enough to come by WITHOUT them having to pay to communicate! The 0.25/email is not bad. They are NOT instant though--there's about a one to two-hour delay. Like the mail, they're not private--I'm sure the delay is due to an algorithm, perusing for key words that could be construed as red flags for any security risks. I can log into the system once-per-hour for 15 minutes. Since a few days ago, I've been checking that thing every time I walked past one of them--checking my watch to see if an hour has even passed--in hope of a reply to an email I sent Friday morning. :( As I said, friends are hard to come by.

M