For three years while incarcerated, I experienced the digital world through a contraband cellphone, which significantly broadened my world. 

During that time, I wrote and self-published a book using apps like Fiverr to hire freelance editors and designers, and I was able to manage my personal blog and fill it with content. 

Instead of having family and friends make social media posts on my behalf, I was able to do it myself. I made connections, and got inspiration from different content creators. Of course, I was also able to interact with family and friends I hadn’t seen or heard from in years.

I committed no crimes with that cellphone. I had no interest in using my access that way. Eventually I was caught with the cellphone charger, temporarily sent to solitary confinement and lost access to the phone. When my internet connection was lost, I felt like I was thrown back to the Stone Age.

U.S. prisons don’t allow internet access, with basically no exceptions. Certain lower-security prisons or college programs in prison might allow for whitelist access, which means people can access pre-approved content, journals and other academic resources. 

But this looks nothing like the internet I used back in 2013 before I came to prison, or the more modern iteration I accessed with a contraband cellphone. I long for reentry into the digital world. If I ever leave, remaining practiced in current internet use will prepare me socially and practically for my new surroundings, where internet access has become ubiquitous.  

Ninety-six percent of U.S. adults say they use the internet, and close to 80% of U.S. households have access to broadband internet, according to Pew Research. And the vast majority of Americans possess smartphones.

Beyond that, internet access has become essential to the workplace. One study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta found that 92% of jobs now require digital skills. Banning incarcerated people from the internet hinders our development behind bars, and sets us up for failure once we return home. Most people in state prisons are expected to be released at some point, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. These people need to know how to navigate in a world that’s no longer the same as when they left.

Tracy Tisdol, who was sent to prison in 1997, is one of those people. He has never used the internet. From a prison cell, he’s watched technology drastically transform the world. During Tisdol’s nearly 30 years in prison, the internet has shifted from a luxury to an everyday necessity. People use it for education, socializing, work, entertainment and the news. 

In under 10 years, Tisdol will have a shot at parole. But he feels like he’s fallen behind the times and is unprepared for life on the outside. 

“It makes me feel like a child in a brave new world,” Tisdol said.

How it would help

Inside prison, the internet would allow incarcerated people to improve access to the courts by making filings and appeals easier, said Al-Quan White, who runs a legal nonprofit throughout New Jersey state prisons. White said he and his family have paid more than $1,000 in fees to a private investigator to help with appeals. 

“It will allow us to research the things our families pay private investigators for,” White said.

If we had internet access in prison, we could keep stronger ties with our families, which would also ease our transition out of prison. In New Jersey prisons, we have access to video calls, but they cost $4.80 for 30 minutes, and our loved ones have to initiate the calls. These prices and other barriers prevent instant and lively contact that could improve our mental health. 

Even access to monitored social media accounts could benefit society and incarcerated people. By maintaining a connection to the outside world, we get to feel more alive.

After prison, the benefits would be felt just as deeply. 

When White left the streets in 2009, there was no such thing as TikTok, Uber or digital wallets. Now these and countless other types of technology are essential to life on the outside. Without basic technological skills, incarcerated people returning home will be left out of society — and perhaps as a result return to prison. 

There are downsides to socializing online, but it also might provide work opportunities and promising social connections, and help people stay out of trouble.

A security risk?

In the state where I’m incarcerated, Rutgers University’s New Jersey State Policy Lab has examined the benefits and downsides of internet in prison. According to a 2025 report from the policy lab, corrections authorities have argued that internet access is a security risk. They worry incarcerated people can coordinate crimes, contact victims, harass witnesses, run gangs and engage in fraud or cyber crimes. And some incarcerated people have indeed used phones for illegal activities. Victims may fear online access will allow them to be located, intimidated and, perhaps, reopen emotional wounds.

Beyond that, the report states that authorities also believe restricting internet access is part of the punishment of the prison sentence. One could also argue that monitoring internet access would be costly and difficult to manage.

But our prisons are already outfitted with wifi for use by guards and administrators, and the internet has become more affordable over time. Prisons also already spend time and resources monitoring our communication. The calls we receive are recorded and can easily be listened to. Our electronic messages are screened. Our physical mail is not even delivered directly to us; it’s sent to a third-party vendor that scans the mail and uploads it to our tablets. 

Similar levels of censorship and monitoring of our internet usage would be acceptable to me. My main preference would be for internet access to come through the tablets that many of us have purchased. We could browse the internet on them, but the state prison system could censor certain websites, like parents sometimes do for their children. I know there will be disagreements over whether certain websites should be allowed or not. But at least this would be a starting point.

In a digital universe, denying incarcerated people internet access weakens rehabilitation and makes reentry harder.