"The U.S. Department of Education reports that state and local spending on prisons and jails in the U.S. has increased at triple the rate of funding for K-12 public education in the last three decades. What a horrible revelation…enough to shock even the most cynical reader I suspect!

Correction experts are trying hard and many are turning to options never considered in the past. In numerous locations, prisoners are being placed into cells with tablet computers. It is a trend that is growing quickly."

"The Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC) is somewhat of an early adopter of emerging communications technology. For several years it has offered electronic messaging, an email-like service that allows people in prison to send and receive messages using a proprietary, fee-based platform operated by a contractor. Colorado DOC’s electronic messaging program isn’t perfect, but its rollout was notable for giving people a new communication option.

"Program aims to reduce tension between inmates while offering them more educational opportunities and contact with friends and family"

"Over the past several years Edovo tablets have been adopted in jails in Alabama, California and Pennsylvania, as well as facilities operated by the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice. In those jurisdictions, the tablets are made available to prisoners at a cost of about $2 per day - the tablets are typically purchased using funds from inmate welfare accounts, and provided to prisoners at no cost.

"The concept is simple: Seed inmates with feature-limited Galaxy Tab S2s. The inmates typically have access to only educational and vocational apps, through in some cases they can use the tablets to read ebooks, prepare for upcoming court cases, or communicate with family members. “We provide technology solutions that provide better outcomes for the incarcerated,” Grewe said at the beginning of our interview. “Prisons don’t need to be dangerous places. They can be constructive.”"

"RESTON, Va., June 7, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Global Tel*Link (GTL), the leading provider of correctional technology solutions and an innovator in payment services solutions for government agencies, today announced that by working closely with the Pima County Corrections Bureau, it has successfully completed a pilot program and will now expand the program making tablets available to all 2,300 inmates. These secure tablets are equipped with features which allow inmates to work on personal rehabilitation while serving their sentences."

"America has the highest prison rates of any nation in the world, but we do a poor job at providing opportunities for prisoners to turn their lives around using the time they spend in jail. A dwindling number of inmates have access to education programs today. In the last two decades, spending on corrections has quadrupled in the U.S. But spending on education within prisons continues to shrink."

"The report (summary below) by the US Department of Justice addressing possible connections between terrorism and mass murders raises a perplexing question; do law enforcement and correctional agencies have the ability to monitor social media accounts to detect these events?

The report focuses on potential warnings through social media. I’m extending the conversation of social media threats to day-to-day criminal activity."

"A national scan of practice among law enforcement agencies across the United States reveals that they use social media to notify the public of safety concerns, manage public relations, and gather evidence for criminal investigations. The Urban Institute and the International Association of Chiefs of Police partnered to develop a comprehensive understanding of law enforcement’s use of social media.

"How do terrorists organize? According to the 9/11 Commission Report, it took a tight and complex organization to recruit and infiltrate the hijackers into the United States, and to plan and oversee the simultaneous hijacking of multiple airplanes. The investigation also concluded that the network was for the most part based abroad, and they found no evidence of substantial financial support for the hijackers from within the United States.