August 2018

Prisons are notoriously low-tech places. But urged on by privately owned companies, like JPay, facilities across the country are adding e-messaging, a rudimentary form of email that remains disconnected from the larger web. Nearly half of all state prison systems now have some form of e-messaging: JPay’s services are available to prisoners in 20 states. On the surface, e-messaging seems like an easy and efficient way for families to keep in touch—a quicker 21st-century version of pen-and-paper mail. Companies like JPay cover the price of installing the systems; prisons pay nothing.

Facebook has asked large US banks to share detailed financial information about their customers, including card transactions and checking account balances, as part of an effort to offer new services to users. The company asked JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo & Co., Citigroup,  and US Bancorp to discuss potential offerings it could host for bank customers on Facebook Messenger. Facebook has talked about a feature that would show its users their checking-account balances. It has also pitched fraud alerts. Data privacy is a sticking point in the banks’ conversations with Facebook.