Report: CA Spent Nearly $189 Million to Give Every State Prisoner an iPad
http://twitchy.com/brettt/2026/05/13/report-ca-spent-nearly-189-million-to-give-every-state-prisoner-an-ipad-n2428152
Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@christopherrufo) ~ EXCLUSIVE: California spent nearly $189 million to give every state prisoner a free iPad. We interviewed a dozen death row inmates, who told us that prisoners are using the tablets to watch porn, engage in x-rated chats, and groom minors on the outside.
http://www.city-journal.org/article/death-row-porn-tablets-california
Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@christopherrufo) ~ It's all part of Gavin Newsom's "digital equity" initiative.
As part of this transformation, the Newsom administration approved a $189 million contract to provide new digital tablets — generic, flat-screen devices in a plastic shell — to every inmate in the state prison system, at “no cost” to offenders. The administration heralded the effort to replace inmates’ old tablets—which were piloted in 2018 and given to nearly all prisoners by 2023 — as a step toward “digital equity” for “justice-impacted” individuals, who could, in theory, use the devices to contact their families, consume “educational” content, and “learn new technology.” ...
The potential for abuse is obvious. The Newsom administration has made the tablet program universal, with no access-restrictions based on offense. And inmates, including child predators, can communicate with members of the public through their tablets, apparently with no age restrictions, at a cost of five cents per text message or 16 cents per minute of video.
In a recent case, Nathaniel Ray Diaz, who was convicted of committing sex crimes against a 12-year-old girl, allegedly used a prison-issued tablet to contact and exploit her from inside Avenal State Prison. Diaz allegedly told the girl to send him sexually explicit images, which he received through a co-conspirator. The girl reportedly told investigators that Diaz forced her to speak with him through the tablet “for hours, every day,” from the time she came home from school until the prison phones turned off at midnight.
Prosecutors alleged that, in total, Diaz made “thousands of calls” to the girl, violating a no-contact order and—by soliciting explicit photographs and exploiting a minor—committing additional child sex crimes. The Eastern District of California Attorney’s Office told us that Diaz is in custody awaiting trial.
Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@christopherrufo) ~ A former high-ranking prison official told us there is no way for authorities to monitor 90,000 prison iPads at the same time.
Needle (@Ltrs_Frm_Across) ~ Almost unbelievable that anyone could this stupid. They are convicted criminals; prison is supposed to be about punishment not some kind of adult daycare facility. Newsom and the Left really don't believe these criminals deserve to be in prison and would like to release them.
Heartland Impact (@HL_Impact) ~ You get more benefits if you are a homeless drug addict, illegal alien, or a criminal in California than if you are a law-abiding taxpayer.
Midwest State of Mind (@mwstateofmind) ~ Infinite compassion for criminals, infinite contempt for law abiding taxpayers. That is the Democrat party.
Frankly Powder (@FPower1) ~ The Democrats running California are out of their minds! Every week there's new insanity, blowing millions on nonsense.
The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. ~ D.H. Lawrence
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