For about five months, nearly 350 inmates in Vermont prisons were unable to access money that they or family members had deposited into accounts to pay for calls, messages and entertainment on tablets.
The Vermont Department of Corrections blamed the delay on the state’s old tablet provider, ViaPath, which failed to transfer the inmates’ money to a new provider who took over in April. Inmates finally received their missing cash last week, only after Seven Days repeatedly asked about the issue.
“Being a state agency, and as high up as they are, I just find it hard to believe that it took them that long,” the mother of one inmate, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution, told Seven Days.
All told, 337 inmates were unable to access more than $7,800 of their own money. Some had only a few cents in their account, while others had several hundred dollars, according to Haley Sommer, a department spokesperson. The state was able to replenish the inmate accounts with its own funds once it got data from ViaPath about who was owed what, Sommer said. But ViaPath has yet to actually fork over the money.
“We understand this delay was disruptive for some incarcerated individuals and their loved ones, and we apologize for any hardship it may have caused,” the department said in a statement.
Seven Days learned about the issue in early September from the inmate’s mother, who was frustrated that her months of pleas to state officials had gone nowhere. She says her son, who has been incarcerated for about a year, was dissuaded from complaining about the issue, known as filing a grievance, by correctional officers at the prison.
“I feel bad because a lot of people don’t have money to support the inmates,” the mother said. “So when somebody puts money on their account, it means the world to them.”
The issue dates to April, as the state was preparing to change tablet providers from ViaPath to ICSolutions. Both companies provide the service at no cost to the state; instead, they charge inmates fees for the services they provide, such as video streaming or email messaging. ViaPath provided the service for years, but corrections officials switched to ICSolutions because it offered more options, including educational programs, according to Sommer.
ViaPath was supposed to provide the state with a spreadsheet detailing the amount of money each inmate had in their accounts, along with the cash. Then the state was to route the information to ICSolutions, which would fill the new accounts. But ViaPath did not provide the info and stopped responding when contacted by Corrections officials, according to Sommer.
By August 20, the DOC’s constituent services unit addressed the matter on its website.
“We are working diligently to get this issue resolved,” the statement said.
ViaPath finally provided the data to the state on September 19. That allowed the state, on its own dime, to pay the inmates what they were owed.
ViaPath did not respond to a request for comment. But it’s been accused of mishandling inmate funds in other states. Last year the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered the company to pay $3 million in fines and restitution for blocking money transfers to prisoners and draining their accounts after a period of inactivity. ViaPath also agreed to pay an undisclosed amount of money to settle a class-action lawsuit over excessive fees for services in West Virginia prisons.
It’s unclear when ViaPath will pay back Vermont, but prisoners now have access to their money. When the inmate checked his account on September 25, he was overjoyed to find $115 had been returned, his mother said.
She, too, was happy to have the issue resolved despite the lengthy delay.
“I realize that things happen and transitions happen, but that’s just ridiculous,” she said. “I mean, four or five, almost six months, that’s just crazy.”