WHAT DOES DIGITAL EQUITY HAVE TO DO WITH INCARCERATED INDIVIDUALS?

The Digital Equity Act identifies Incarcerated Individuals as one of the covered populations that suffer from digital inequity. This should come as no surprise: many incarcerated individuals have no access to digital devices or internet connectivity and suffer high levels of digital illiteracy. In fact, some jurisdictions prohibit Internet access for incarcerated individuals by means of restrictive statutes or regulations. Moreover, even when incarcerated individuals do have access to digital devices and Internet connectivity, they are often prohibitively expensive, extremely limited, and poorly implemented due to the unique digital context, with its own unique barriers to digital equity, in which incarcerated individuals live.

Clearly incarcerated individuals suffer digital inequity. The question remains whether the digital inequity suffered by incarcerated individuals is merely one of many justified restrictions on liberty suffered by incarcerated individuals as a result of their punishment or incarnation, or whether digital inequity among incarcerated individuals is an evil that must be rooted out.

Because the increased economic and employment success, educational achievement, social inclusion, and civic engagement that tend to flow from digital equity are positively correlated with reduced recidivism among previously incarcerated individuals, digital equity among incarcerated individuals can be expected to reduce crime. As such, digital equity among incarcerated individuals is a matter of social justice, safety, and security and is worth pursing.