California’s prison tablet program is facing backlash after reports that inmates are using the taxpayer-funded digital devices to access pornography and groom minors. 

Under Governor Gavin Newsom, California approved a $189 million contract to provide digital tablets to inmates at no cost. The program was first piloted in 2018 and expanded to nearly all state prisoners by 2023.

The initiative was reportedly intended to promote “digital equity” for “justice impacted” individuals by allowing inmates to communicate with family members and consume “educational” content, according to City Journal.

However, the tablets have been widely abused. According to the outlet, multiple inmates on death row said prisoners have used the devices to watch pornography and engage in sexually explicit conversations. A former high-ranking corrections official alleged that some inmates were using the devices to groom minors.

California’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation defended the initiative, saying the tables are “tightly controlled education tools” that give inmates “access to the Bible, education, and reentry resources that actually reduce crime.” State officials have also maintained that the devices regulate explicit content.

However, inmates have revealed that those safeguards can be easily bypassed. 

One inmate highlighted in the report was Robert Maury, a convicted rapist and serial killer known as the “Tipster Killer” who would anonymously call authorities in the 1980s to reveal the locations of his victims’ bodies. Maury, who is currently incarcerated at a state prison in Stockton, told the outlet that inmates are able to access pornography and receive “nude pictures.” One workaround in which inmates are able to watch pornography is by video calling someone outside the prison and simply recording pornography that is being displayed on another screen.

Maury explained that he received a topless photo from a 22-year-old German psychology student who had contacted him for a class project. The two communicated for a period of time, where Maury “flirted” with her “for a while.” 

More serious allegations were also raised involving Nathaniel Ray Diaz, an inmate convicted of sex crimes against a 12-year-old girl. While in prison, Diaz was able to use his tablet to contact and exploit the girl, coercing her to send sexually explicit images. The girl told investigators he had forced her to speak to him through the tablet “for hours, every day,” and prosecutors said he made thousands of calls to the girl in violation of a no-contact order.

“I would bet my pension that there’s a vast amount of childhood pornography on the tablets,” a former official said. There are probably several thousand [children] that are currently being groomed.”

California reportedly moved last month to tighten restrictions on the program, including formally banning obscene text messages and sexually explicit images. Still, inmates said these restrictions remain easy to bypass.

The controversy comes as Newsom’s administration continues to attempt to “reimagine our prison system,” advocating for a Nordic-style prison system that focuses more on rehabilitation than punishment.