Address:
140 4th Street SE
Rochester, MN 55904
Phone:
507-328-6790
The Olmsted County Work Release Center is offering, or will soon offer, tablets for inmate use to make phone calls, participate in video visits, and send and receive electronic messages. If you don't see the tablet provider listed here, contact the jail at 507-328-6790 for more information.
The tablets connect to a secure server controlled by Olmsted County Work Release Center, not the open internet. This allows jail staff to monitor all communications and to review written messages before they are delivered.
While the tablet may be free, ongoing use, especially for entertainment or education, may come with additional fees.
Scroll down for a complete section of Frequently Asked Questions and Answers about renting tablets for inmates at Olmsted County Work Release Center.
Does the Olmsted County Work Release Center 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 Olmsted County Work Release Center’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 507-328-6790 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.
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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.
