Prison Wi-Fi to be updated

Company to make 300 tablets available to inmates if upgrade works, warden says

HOLLIDAYSBURG -- An effort to provide Blair County Prison inmates with correctional-grade computer tablets ran into a common problem of wireless connection issues, Warden Abbie Tate told the county prison board Thursday.

Rather than abandoning the pursuit, the company that presented the prison with 35 tablets is now offering to upgrade the prison's computer connection equipment and make about 300 tablets available for the inmates.

"Encartel will pay to beef up our Wi-Fi," Tate told the prison board while speaking of a proposed amendment to the county's contract with the Omaha, Neb., company that provides the prison's inmate telephone and communication services.

In mid-2022, the company offered to introduce computer tablets to the prison so inmates could have more options for communicating with loved ones and access to fee-based services with music, magazines, movies and other permitted materials.

Tate said the tablets were introduced in the women's housing area. But the connections were poor and inmates were still getting charged, she said.

Tate told the prison board that if Encartel's new equipment fails to resolve the connection issues, then the computer tablets will be returned.

"I'm not going to hand these tablets out unless they work to full capacity," she said.

While commissioners will decide at a future meeting if they're in favor of amending the contract with Encartel, the prison board voted 6 to 1 on Thursday to recommend the consideration.

District Attorney Pete Weeks voted against the motion and pointed to a lack of information about the capability of the tablets, the access that inmates would have or a policy governing use.

Commissioners Dave Kessling said he thought Weeks' concerns could be addressed by gathering more information before the commissioners consider taking action on the amendment.

Tate said she would want to have a policy in place and suggested ones would be available from state prisons and other county prisons which have already been supplying their inmates with computer tablets.

"We're one of the last prisons to do this," the warden said.

Tate also indicated that until the prison's Wi-Fi is improved to the point where the tablets work, they won't be distributed.

"This is going to be a slow roll out, a very slow rollout," she said.

Prison board member A.C. Stickel, county controller, said he would vote in favor of the recommendation because it offers the chance of upgrading Wi-Fi in the 155-year-old prison.

"Frankly, I'm not convinced they're going to be able to do it," Stickel said.

Prison board members voting in favor of recommending the contract amendment to commissioners were Stickel, Kessling, Commissioner Amy Webster, Commissioner Laura Burke, President Judge Wade A. Kagarise and Sheriff James Ott.

Kessling also asked Tate if the tablets could provide inmates with access to legal materials for research. Tate replied that West Law, the company that makes legal materials available to inmates, doesn't have its information in a format that can be downloaded to a computer tablet.

New officers

In other business, the board elected Commissioners Chairman Dave Kessling to chair the prison board, succeeding Controller A.C. Stickel, who has chaired the board for four years.

Stickel said he was honored to chair the board but was not seeking to remain chairman and nominated Kessling who worked in state and county prisons before becoming a commissioner this year.

The board elected Amy Webster to serve as vice chairman and Stickel to serve as secretary.

No other candidates were nominated for the prison board offices.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.