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Advocates say prison's LexisNexis access has been broken for months; deputy warden says digital access remains available
Summary
Advocates told the Lackawanna County Prison Board on Jan. 22 that the prison's law-library access via tablets has been unreliable since August and that incarcerated people in restrictive housing lack consistent access to legal research and printing.
Advocates for incarcerated people told the Lackawanna County Prison Board on Jan. 22 that the prison's law-library access has been unreliable since August and that inmates in restrictive housing lack access to tablets or any reliable way to print legal documents.
"Inside the prison, there's no physical law library. There's an app on the tablet, but the app has been broken and inconsistently available for the past six months, so since August," said Maggie Craig, a Scranton-based advocate, describing repeated problems and an ongoing cost of about $1,200 per month for the service.
Bev DeBauro, an advocate who also visits the facility, said inmates have struggled to print filings and that a broken copy machine and limited computer access impeded people from pursuing legal petitions and family contact. She urged the board to restore reliable access and to allow advocates greater opportunities to communicate with commissioners.
Deputy Warden Arzell responded that the facility had closed the physical room commonly referred to as the "law library" in August due to security concerns and misuse of the room but that the county continues to provide access to legal research software on tablets and to laptops/classroom computers on request. Arzell said staff have protocols to assist inmates who need printed materials and that he would personally check the tablet app and the mobile-cart computers.
"We do, in fact, close the law library in August. The law library is the access to legal resources, and that's the software that we use so the inmates have access to legal resources," Arzell said. "Again, that's just a physical room with several computers and a printer and the copy machine... it became an area where inmates were able to pass contraband."
The board agreed to include a visit to the prison for its March meeting and asked staff to check tablet access and the cart computers and report back to the commissioners.
No formal action was taken at the meeting beyond staff follow-up and a promise to check systems; the board indicated it would review the deputy warden's memo and discuss the issue further during the March site visit.
