Indiana Pilot Program Brings Legal Research Kiosks To Inmates
The Indiana Department of Correction has contracted with LexisNexis U.S. and Touch Sonic Technologies to bring the companies’ new legal information kiosks to inmates at the Branchville Correctional Facility in Tell City.
The Branchville installation is a one-year pilot program. The kiosks, called the TSTLL, were developed specifically to meet the safety and security requirements of prisons by Touch Sonic Technologies and feature legal research from LexisNexis.
Touch Sonic and LexisNexis have recently installed the wall-mounted kiosks with shatterproof touch screens in two facilities in Ventura County, California (East County Jail and Todd Road Jail).
Previously, the companies installed kiosks in corrections facilities in Hawaii and Riverside County, California.
Most prison libraries offer legal books, which can be damaged or lost, and are quickly outdated. With these kiosks, corrections departments are expected to save hundreds of thousands of dollars on costly law books, while offering comprehensive and current legal information to inmates.
States also stand to save money with fewer prisoner complaints about lack of access to legal research, which comprise substantial numbers of the inmate lawsuits filed.
In addition to ensuring access to current legal information, the TSTLL unit allows the correctional facility to track the usage of each inmate through a login, providing a record that can be used to defend allegations of non- access.
Since safety is a big concern in corrections environments, the kiosks feature a shatterproof touch screen. Also, the flexibility of locating the kiosks within the cellblock gives corrections officers a way to offer research time while keeping inmates secure in the facility.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from PRNewswire (08/06/04) .