Social media – everyone’s doing it, including the inmates. But how can corrections make Facebook work for them?
The dangers of inmates having a Facebook page are already numerous – whether it’s finding out a CO’s information, sending death threats, or even just posing as a reminder of their crime to their victims, the idea that Facebook just isn’t for corrections seems like a valid one.
Unfortunately, social media isn’t going away, and inmates are finding too many ways around security measures to gain access. Just ignoring Facebook and Twitter isn’t going to make things better, especially not when there are so many ways social media can help corrections.
For one, Kansas was already reported to be using it late last year to nab parole absconders. How? By posting information about a parolee who failed to maintain contact with their parole officers, then waiting for location information to come to them. A spokesperson said they were down from 400 absconders to 170 within three years.
After all, sometimes offenders do the work for you, just like this Michigan woman who bragged about getting out of a probation violation – that is, until investigators found her incriminating Facebook post.
Facebook can be one way for administration to stay in touch with its employees – just check out the page for TDCJ employees, which boasts over 5,986 likes. It’s a quick and simple way to share information that is localized to a particular area. It’s also a good way to stay in touch with the community around you, whether it’s notification of escapes or releases, or something else entirely.
It can also be a great way to express the good works your correctional facility is doing, such as how the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (Ariz.) advertises its no-kill animal shelter, MASH.
And even if inmates have their own pages, that doesn’t mean that nothing can be done about it. An inmate’s Facebook page can be a way to monitor the goings-on inside of a prison, such as contraband exchange or potential plans for disruption. Law enforcement in Los Angeles has been using Twitter as a potential way to monitor gang activity – nothing says that can’t be done in corrections, too.
Some on the outside are even doing what they can to stop inmates from having access to social media, such as this ex-corrections officer who’s reporting inmate Facebook pages to have them removed.
Of course, we could also just give them a social media site of their own.
Does your facility make any use of social media? Let us know in the comments below.