The South Dakota State Penitentiary, pictured on March 27, 2024. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight)
The state prison system collected at least $1.25 million in fees from inmates and their families for phone and messaging services in the three years leading up to this month’s sudden shutdown of tablet-based communications.
The South Dakota Department of Corrections (DOC) revenue is a mix of commission payments for phone calls and electronic messaging. The money is paid to the DOC from its communication contractor, ViaPath, which does business as Global Tel Link.
Inmates can call from wall phones and, until recently, from their tablets. Those fee-for-service mobile devices are provided by the contractor to all inmates at no cost to the state. The tablets offer calls, texts and photo messaging, music and games for fees, and have a free law library. Inmates cannot access regular websites or social media.
The DOC provided the commission payout information to South Dakota Searchlight in the run-up to a Wednesday evening disturbance at the state penitentiary in Sioux Falls. During the event, inmates in the East Hall cell block could be heard from the street chanting “we want phones.”