How Much Does It Cost to Read a Free
Book on a Free Tablet?
 |
| @AppalachianPBP |
“War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery;
Ignorance is Strength.”
So goes the official slogan of George Orwell’s Oceania, a hyper-surveillance-based police state underpinned by the illogic of doublethink. Defined in 1984 as “the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them,” doublethink camouflages exploitation as generosity and violence as social order. The novel highlights the role of language manipulation in the maintenance of state power and the compliance of its citizenry.
The Hidden Costs of
“Free” Prison Tablets
Aside from visiting a public library,
any nonincarcerated American citizen with Internet access can unlock the
secrets of Oceania for free by downloading 1984 from Project Gutenberg
Australia. For those who prefer handwritten notes in margins, a used paperback
is available online for less than a dollar. Or you can buy it new for $7.54.
As a result of a new contract between Global Tel Link (GTL) and the West Virginia Division of Corrections and
Rehabilitation (WVDCR), you might think people incarcerated in West
Virginia prisons could use the “free” GTL tablets to download a “free” copy of
1984 and journey from “It was a bright cold day in April” to “He loved Big Brother.”
But people in WV prisons will be
charged 5 cents/minute to access much of the tablet’s content. For now, a
promotional discount brings the cost of reading e-books down to 3 cents/minute.
Either way, it’s no way to read.
The books on the tablet come entirely
from Project Gutenberg’s free online library. Most of the books we receive
requests for at APBP—how-to guides (carpentry, starting a business, repairing
small engines, etc.), contemporary fiction, popular mysteries and sci-fi,
African American literature, Native studies, recent autobiographies—will not be
available.
Since Project Gutenberg archives older texts that have entered the public domain, they do not allow institutions to charge people to download their e-books and audio books. The per-minute tablet usage fees provide a clever way for GTL to profit from people reading “free” books. 🔽
Here’s the breakdown of
costs:
➤ Accessing content, which includes
“music, games, electronic messaging, eBooks,” costs $0.05 per minute.
➤ Video visitation features cost $0.25
per minute.
➤ Instant messaging costs $0.25 per
written message and is billed to the friend or family member on the outside.
➤ Sending a photo with a message costs an
additional $.50, and video attachments cost an additional $1.00 each.
These rates could represent minimum
charges, as GTL “may in its discretion change any pricing. Taxes, and
regulatory and other mandated fees, may also apply.” The company reserves the
right to terminate the contract if expenditures have not been recouped in 12
months.
According to research by the Prison Policy Initiative, wages for regular jobs in WV prisons range between $0.04 and $0.58 per hour. Taking the average ($0.30 per hour), a person must work for 66 hours to earn enough to read a book like 1984. READ MORE ➤➤
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