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State agencies tell committee Wi‑Fi for prisons requires extra study; assessments due this summer
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Summary
Officials from the Agency of Digital Services and the Department of Corrections told the House Corrections & Institutions Committee that bringing Wi‑Fi into correctional facilities will require facility, security and policy assessments; agencies said assessments will be complete by July–August to inform next session’s budget request.
The House Corrections & Institutions Committee on April 23 heard from the Agency of Digital Services (ADS) and the Department of Corrections about a planned statewide network modernization and the special technical and security work needed to add wireless services in prisons.
ADS’s secretary for the Agency of Digital Services said the state is undertaking a “network modernization project” that touches more than 300 state buildings, but cautioned that “when we look at correctional facilities, it’s not the same thing. It’s not like putting Wi Fi up at the state house.” The secretary told lawmakers the department will complete facility, security and policy assessments through the summer so the state can craft a budget request for the next legislative session.
Why this matters: Committee members emphasized that devices and business processes inside prisons are different from typical state facilities. Officials said that without careful planning — including where cable runs go, how access points are placed, how devices are managed, and how clinical data are segregated — a straightforward infrastructure project could create safety and privacy risks and unanticipated costs.
ADS explained that heat maps created in an initial assessment show signal coverage but not the operational “gray space” where business processes, doors and building geometry affect whether a device will actually work. The secretary said the state needs three lines of work before installations: a facilities assessment (where wires can safely be routed), a security assessment (how to keep HIPAA and CJIS data secure), and a policies-and-procedures review at each facility.
Deputy Commissioner Kristen Calvert of the Department of Corrections said clinical tablets provided by a contractor (Wellpath) run on a physically separate CJIS-compliant subnet and that staff networks must remain segregated from resident-facing networks. Calvert also confirmed agencies can establish authorized partner accounts for contractors under appropriate agreements.
On costs and timing: Lawmakers pressed for a ballpark figure. Calvert said preliminary, incomplete quotes were “right around $3,000,000,” but that ADS’s deeper dive into per-facility assessments showed the final cost will likely be significantly higher and will depend on wiring, devices, policy changes and security procedures. ADS told the committee it expects assessment outputs by July–August and will use that data to inform the governor’s budget process starting in August and September.
Committee members also raised vendor accountability for tablet reliability at Saint Albans and Springfield facilities. ADS and DOC said they will increase oversight and correspondence with the contractor, review SLA and uptime provisions, and examine options such as leasing network equipment to reduce upfront capital costs.
Next steps: ADS said it will prioritize mapping work at a May 6 meeting, share assessment results in the August–September timeframe, and return with a data-driven plan — including identified risks and mitigation steps — ahead of any capital request. The committee signaled it will continue oversight, may request additional contractor testimony, and encouraged closer coordination with the Joint Information Technology Committee.
The committee also flagged related items for follow up, including tablet language, Wellpath testimony, and possible site visits to correctional facilities.
