Address:
703 Ball Avenue NE
Grand Rapids, MI 49503
Phone:
616-632-6300
Kent County Correctional Facility provides tablets for inmates to use for phone and visitation communication, as well as for sending and receiving electronic messaging.
The tablets are provided by gettingout / GTL / Viapath.
The tablets are not connected directly to the internet, but instead to a server controlled by the Kent County Correctional Facility. This allows all communication between inmates and their contacts to monitored during calls and visits, as well as delays while written communication is reviewed.
Please note that while the jail may provide the tablet for free, there will be a cost for ongoing use of it for entertainment and educational purposes.
Scroll down for a complete section outlining Frequently Asked Questions and Answers regarding renting tablets for Kent County Correctional Facility Inmates.
The devices are similar to common handheld tablets, but are made exclusively by GettingOut, a GTL / Viapath company.
Tablets offer specialized content and services for inmates to use during their stay at Kent County Correctional Facility, such as:
- Free services are already available for use on the device at Kent County Correctional Facility.
- Subscription services are funded separately by family and friends with deposits made into an inmate’s Debit Link account.
- Kent County Correctional Facility Inmates will then be able to purchase subscription services and premium content to enjoy.
What Does a Tablet Cost?
To estimate costs for tablets and other services such as phone calls, sign in to your account and click “Rate & Fees Calculator” in the footer (bottom of the page), but the following gives you a general idea.
Game Center:
30-Day Subscription: $4.99, with an additional $1.00 service infrastructure charge ($5.99)
Fourteen-Day Subscription: $2.99, with an additional $0.75 service infrastructure charge ($3.74)
Seven-Day Subscription: $1.99, with an additional $0.50 service infrastructure charge ($2.49)
Unlimited eBooks:
Thirty-Day Subscription: $1.99, with an additional $1.00 service infrastructure charge ($2.99)
Fourteen-Day Subscription: $0.99, with an additional $0.75 service infrastructure charge ($1.74)
Seven-Day Subscription: $0.49, with an additional $0.50 service infrastructure charge ($0.99)
Streaming Music:
Thirty-Day Subscription: $8.99, with an additional $16.00 service infrastructure charge ($24.99)
Fourteen-Day Subscription: $5.99, with an additional $9.00 service infrastructure charge ($14.99)
Seven-Day Subscription: $2.99, with an additional $5.00 service infrastructure charge ($7.99)
Newsfeed
Thirty-Day Subscription: $3.99, with an additional $6.00 service infrastructure charge ($9.99)
Fourteen-Day Subscription: $1.99, with an additional $5.00 service infrastructure charge ($6.99)
Seven-Day Subscription: $0.99, with an additional $3.00 service infrastructure charge ($3.99)
Same Day Subscription Services
Game Center: $0.99, with an additional $0.50 service infrastructure charge ($1.49)
Unlimited eBooks: $0.25, (Total = 0.25)
Newsfeed: $0.24, with an additional $0.75 service infrastructure charge ($0.99)
FM Radio: $0.24, with an additional $0.25 service infrastructure charge ($0.49)
All Subscription and message credit pricing is subject to state and local taxes.
Replacement Components - should your inmate break it...
Tablet: $249.99 per each
Charger: $8.99 per each
Earbuds: $2.99 per each
Does the Kent County Correctional Facility have tablets for the inmates to use?
What can the inmates use the tablets for?
Are the jail’s tablets connected to the internet?
How much do the tablets cost to use?
Why do the inmates have access to tablets if they are being punished?
Do inmates have to pay for tablets that they break?
You can find information about the Kent County Correctional Facility’s tablet program at the top of this page. If there is no information about it, it is because they either have recently changed companies or are not yet providing this service for inmates. Call 616-632-6300 to confirm.
Inmates in jails and prisons are using tablets for all the communication services available such as video visitation, video phone calls, regular phone calls, and electronic messaging – which is like texting and email.
Tablets are also used for entertainment, such as watching movies, television shows, listening to music and reading e-books. It is also used for education, self-help information, and legal research.
No, they are not connected to the internet. All the messages, visits and programming goes through a system controlled by the company that provides the tablets, and through the jail. They control what each inmate sees. All messages are carefully screened and not delivered if the sender or the inmate violates jail policy.
For accessing visits and messages, the tablets are free to use. Each unit has many of them, all provided by the company that has contracted with the jail. Of course, the video visits and messages have a fee and those are paid for by the inmate’s family and friends who use the service.
That’s the question a lot of people ask and don’t fully understand.
The way the jail staff looks at it, is that if they can keep the inmates busy and distracted, it makes it safer for them.
Tablets also give them a certain power over controller an inmate’s behavior. For example, if an inmate knows that they will lose the privilege of having access to a tablet if they get into a fight or violate another rule or policy, they will be better behaved.
Tablets are one of the few things that make an inmate feel as though they are free, and they don’t want to lose the privilege of having access to one.
CIDNET
City Tele Coin
Gettingout
GTL
Homewav
IC Solutions
Inmate Sales
JailATM
J Pay
NCIC
Oasis
Paytel
Reliance
Securus
Smart Communications
Yes, if an inmate breaks a tablet, then they are responsible for paying for it. The money will come out of their commissary funds, so not only do they lose access to having a tablet as punishment, but they also won’t be able to purchase snacks on commissary.
