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Photo courtesy of JPay

A few years ago, the Missouri Department of Corrections (MDOC) gave tablets to all inmates who wanted one. But the experience of owning one has been mixed. When we have a problem we need fixed, we don’t receive the help we need. 

For example, I bought a new tablet so I could own the device outright. But when I tried to download all the games and songs that I paid for and had on my free tablet, I wasn’t able to get 17 of my songs. Every time I tried to download those songs, my screen on the tablet would say, “Finalizing” in the bottom right corner. That would be followed by a message, “Download interrupted.”

When I wrote a repair ticket, the service provider JPay gave me an automatic response: “Do a hard reboot.” and “Download the music catalog to fix it.”

Nothing worked, so I deleted all of my songs and downloaded them again one at a time. This time, 45 of my songs did not load, which was worse than before. When I complained again, they gave me the same automatic response. 

I overheard one man in the same wing as me saying that he had songs on his old tablet that would not download. They told him that they could not fix it and they would pay him back for the songs, but he could never buy those songs again. 

I think that they should be held responsible for anything they sell.

Disclaimer: The views in this article are those of the author. Prison Journalism Project has verified the writer’s identity and basic facts such as the names of institutions mentioned.

Greywolf is a writer incarcerated in Missouri. His stories are published under his Indian given name, Greywolf, of the wolf clan in Bartow, Florida.