Inmate Pen Pal Classifieds

People incarcerated in West Virginia prisons will soon be changed $3 an hour to read books and $15 an hour for video visitation with their families. Prisoners in West Virginia are paid between 4 and 58 cents an hour for their labor.

The adoption of costly video-technology is part of a disturbing nation-wide trend: 74 percent of jails who have adopted video calls have subsequently banned in-person visitation.

There’s also been a troubling national trend to ban donations of used books to people who are incarcerated and to restrict book purchases to certain vendors that charge exorbitant prices and have limited censored selections.

The stated rationale for limiting or banning both in-person visitation and books is the smuggling of contraband. But overwhelmingly contraband is smuggled into jails and prisons by staff.