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Comment by RyEgswuCsn | Hacker News Reader

I know the reading experience is different but perhaps they could benefit from using (offline) Kindle?

The article mentions that they have those. The e-readers charge prisoners 5 cents per minute to read most books, including public domain works. The prisoners are paid about $0.25/hr for working, so reading for an hour would take about four hours of labor.

"The paperback version of 1984 is about 330 pages. It will take a person who is able to read 30 pages per hour about 11 hours to read the novel. At the discounted $0.03/minute usage fee, 11 hours of reading a free book will cost a person about $19.80—and this is if you don’t stop to think or re-read."[1]

That's at the temporarily discounted 3 cents/minute rate.

Also, from the same source:

"For one, WVDCR will receive a 5% commission on gross revenue, including fees from video visitation."

Which explains the whole thing. That's 5% of gross revenue...not profits. Ouch.

[1] https://appalachianprisonbookproject.org/2019/11/20/how-much...

The prices are high because they know families will subsidize the costs. Colleges also employ this same tactic.

Yes. Most things in jails and prisons are paid for by the families, not the incarcerated person.

Some smart jurisdictions are wising up to this and banning this profiting from the person's family: https://sftreasurer.org/san-francisco-will-become-first-coun...

> The e-readers charge prisoners 5 cents per minute to read most books, including public domain works.

This alone is so devious on so many levels.

I don't think I could enjoy a book if I had a meter ticking down money for every minute I just stare at a page while thinking.

A kindle itself isn't acceptable. The batteries that it uses along with, well, not being clear cause problems.

https://laughingsquid.com/transparent-devices-used-in-us-pri...

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