System allows prison inmates to email

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - What would you think if you opened your email and discovered an inmate from the Department of Correction sent you a note?

24-Hour News 8 Reporter Jay Hermacinski recently received this email from offender Rakisha Ricketts:

Hello jay@wishtv.com,

Rakisha Ricketts (107434) invites you to visit www.jpay.com so that you can send and receive electronic letters.
Click here to access JPay and set up an account for free.
From your JPay account you can send electronic letters to an offender in Indiana Department of Correction.
Once your e-letters are received, Rakisha will be able to reply to your e-letters and you can view them in your "Incoming Mail" section of your JPay account.
You can also send money to this offender with JPay.

If you have any questions about this service, please feel free to contact JPay at support@jpay.com or at the 1-800-574-5729.

This email has been sent to you on behalf of an offender incarcerated at the Indiana Department of Correction. If you no longer wish to recieve communications from this person please reply to this email.
Thanks,
JPay Mail Services

We wondered what kind of access Indiana inmates have when it comes to sending and receiving emails.

“The offender doesn't have direct contact with anyone unless that person agrees to write back,” said Indiana Department of Correction spokesman Doug Garrison.

The DOC uses a company called JPay.com to set up email and money transfer accounts.

The way it works is inmates can send out email invitations that ask recipients to set up a free email account if they are interested in corresponding.

“If you ignore that email and don't write back, they could never send that email again. That prevents harassment of people on the outside,” said Garrison. “There are many controls in that system that allow the DOC to monitor email that comes in and out of our facilities and to actually search on keywords so we can attempt to see if there is any criminal activity going on in the emails, or if the intent is to smuggle contraband, or any other illegal activities.”

The DOC says it can block offenders from sending emails to specific individuals. That way, victims of offenders would be protected from receiving invitations.

Currently, only a handful of Indiana prisons have terminals for inmates to send and receive emails. The DOC plans to buy more terminals and expand the email system.

“It poses a benefit for us when we have an electronic record. That allows for easy electronic searching to solve some of the crime problems we have in prison,” said Garrison.

While most Indiana inmates have access to the email system, the DOC says inmates do not have access to the Internet.