Text apps offer lifeline to loved ones locked behind bars; but their high costs and outdated technology have turned these services into another opportunity for companies to profit off inmates.
To select the optimal inmate text app, it is first essential to understand prison regulations and local laws. These apps not only allow you to send texts but also postcards and photos.
GettingOut Messaging
This app not only allows inmates to communicate with family and friends outside, but it also offers them other ways of staying connected and being productive while behind bars. Inmates have access to wireless tablets with free education apps, fee-based entertainment apps, phone apps, GettingOut messaging platform and the GettingOut messaging platform; which enables prisoners to write messages up to 1,500 characters long that receive replies from contacts outside. Outside users pay per message or photo sent; inmates pay by minute usage of this service.
GettingOut offers “simple and reliable communication between inmates, friends and family.” However, concerns have been raised regarding its privacy practices as the Guardian app was found exposing inmates’ private messages online – potentially giving outsiders access to them. Gizmodo reported on these errors which exposed prisoners’ private conversations.
GettingOut allows inmates to send and receive messages, post photos to Facebook or Foursquare, add check-ins via Foursquare and more in a secure, controlled environment that eliminates paper correspondence. Inmates can even use this app to record videos for YouTube upload. GettingOut is available at select correctional facilities.
FlikShop
Text messaging apps designed for inmates allow loved ones to stay in contact with those behind bars, complying with prison regulations. Staff often monitor these services. Inmate texting apps feature messaging and photos capabilities as well as video calls and eCards; additionally they may allow users to send money into prison trust accounts through the app.
Multiple inmate texting apps are free, while some require subscription fees. The best inmate texting apps allow you to stay in contact with loved ones behind bars by using your phone camera to capture photos and upload directly onto an inmate’s tablet computer. In addition to messaging capabilities, these apps also make it easy to locate and mail an individual.
Bullock was motivated to launch Flikshop after witnessing how just receiving a postcard from family could help prisoners reconnect and maintain relationships while behind bars. With support from an incubator program affiliated with John Legend granting $50,000 as seed funding, Flikshop was soon up and running.
Though many may see those incarcerated as hopeless, they can bring much to their communities. Prison inmates are real people with families and need ways to communicate with them – Flikshop makes that easy!
Corrlinks
Corrlinks is an innovative communication app that enables family and friends to electronically contact loved ones who are in incarceration, providing invaluable benefits for both parties – increased emotional support for family and friends while increasing awareness of what’s outside prison walls. Corrlinks helps inmates overcome loneliness while building connections to those on the outside – something essential to rehabilitation and reentry into society.
CorrLinks is a free app, but it does have some restrictions that inmates must abide by. They can receive up to 13,000 characters in an email; and it doesn’t allow attachments or photos. However, you may be able to write your messages in another program before copying and pasting into Corrlinks – this bypasses some restrictions while saving time!
Corrlinks has earned high user ratings due to its intuitive user interface and responsive customer support, as well as its end-to-end encryption that provides privacy and security when communicating with loved ones incarcerated in prisons or jails.
Corrlinks makes it important to communicate in a respectful and non-offensive manner and avoid sensitive topics that could cause discomfort or distress for recipients. Furthermore, setting clear expectations with your correspondents helps create an environment conducive to positive and supportive interactions that has been proven to reduce recidivism rates.
GTLGettingOut
GTLGettingOut is an Android mobile application designed to give incarcerated individuals access to post photos and send messages directly from jail, providing a simple way for friends and family to stay in contact with loved ones who are behind bars. Available at select correctional facilities, this tool makes connecting easier than ever for friends and family outside jail as it costs 25 cents per message and photo sent outside jail. Inmates can edit pictures, apply filters and even check-in on Foursquare; while friends outside jail pay 25 cents per message or photo sent outside jail.
The Getting Out system has been beset with technical glitches, such as dropped video calls, poor phone connections, movies that freeze for seconds or more and apps that crash or stop working properly. Furthermore, keyboards belonging to those incarcerated have mysteriously vanished.
Donald Thompson has been incarcerated for 26 years and believes these tablets will allow him to learn modern technology. Unfortunately, some of his prisonmates have expressed displeasure with them due to issues including keyboard disappearing altogether and slow connections resulting in apps freezing or stopping working properly.