Carbon County officials have ended a potential contract that would have provided tablets to all inmates in the county correctional facility.

On Thursday, the county commissioners voted unanimously against authorizing the county solicitor from again reviewing a contract with ViaPath and continue research on a federal lawsuit in Maryland that ViaPath is currently named.

Commissioner Rocky Ahner said that the terms of the new proposal from the company have changed and now included tablets for all inmates in the prison, providing access to the internet from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and only provided monitoring for 10 hours a week.

“So what is happening to the other 74 hours of the week?” Ahner asked about the lack of complete monitoring of the tablets. “A lot can happen unmonitored within 3,848 hours within the total year. Don’t forget there are inmates in the Carbon County facility that have drastically affected the lives of others, by bodily harm, home invasion and even murder.

“With the ongoing staff issues in all departments, this is not a tool for ongoing investigations,” he continued. “This is a perk for inmates that some Carbon County citizens do not even have at their home.”

Ahner said he believes in rehabilitation, which is one benefit of the tablets that the company claimed; however, the rehabilitation “starts with combating addiction and mental health issues through Carbon-Monroe-Pike programs, not by watching pay channels.”

Ahner noted that the original proposal called for docking stations and fewer tablets, which could more easily be monitored, but it has evolved into everyone getting one.

He said that with the current proposal, what would stop inmates from calling people to work on drug deals or sending and receiving inappropriate images and messages.

“It’s not secure for me,” he said, adding that the county has made progress in getting those moving through the court system into alternative programs to help battle addictions and mental health issues instead of being incarcerated, and this would take them a step in the wrong direction.

“We want to help everyone and have compassion for everybody, but they’re there for a reason. It’s not a country club. It’s where we want to rehabilitate you and help you.”

Commissioners’ Chairman Michael Sofranko said that there were several factors the commissioners took into consideration before deciding to vote the way they did.

He said the law library is available to inmates.

He added that the action essentially puts the idea to rest and will not be happening.

The discussion for tablets for inmates at the prison began in January 2019 when Global Tel*Link, which has become ViaPath Technologies, a company that provides technology solutions to the criminal justice system, provided a proposal to add onto the county inmates phone system.

At the time, the company would have provided tablets that could be used by groups of inmates.

At that time, the prison board outlined some benefits, as well as some possible problems with this and asked the commissioners for a recommendation.

Discussions on the tablets continued in September 2020 and December 2021 with no official action being taken.

In other prison matters, the commissioners approved a memorandum of understanding with Carbon Career & Technical Institute for Career Path educational services at the facility. This agreement allows up to 20 inmates with help to obtain a high school equivalency diploma while incarcerated.

There is no cost to the county and funding would be secured through Lehigh Carbon Community College from the Pennsylvania Department of Education Act 231 Federal Literacy Grant. The term of the agreement runs through June 30, 2025.