I’m fighting for my freedom using outdated technology

Recently, my lawyer instructed me to read the original transcripts from my trial and other legal documents he sent me in preparation for my appeal. It was a reasonable request. Being able to read these kinds of legal documents helps us understand our cases and talk through details with our lawyers. The only problem was that he sent the documents to me on a flash drive, which we are generally not allowed to have at New Jersey State Prison.

The only way to access flash drives from our lawyers is to request permission to review the material in a special, private section of our law library. But it can take days to have our review requests approved — and that’s precious time when you’re trying to file an appeal.

Our prison lags way behind the times. Inside New Jersey State Prison, it’s like 1985, where we rely on out-of-date word processors, electric typewriters and floppy disks that are going extinct in the free world.

You read that right. While we can’t take flash drives back to our cells, we’re allowed to keep 20 floppy disks. I have 12 myself. But they come with a range of issues, including the important fact that our lawyers don’t use them to send us information.

That’s partially because floppy disk manufacturing ended in 2011, so there’s a finite supply worldwide. Very few places sell them. The commissary has never sold floppy disks, so I’ve had to purchase them from outside vendors. 

Beyond those problems, floppy disks also get corrupted easily. After hours and hours of legal work, you can lose everything in an instant. For this reason, we try to make copies of the disks so we have backups. 

And most importantly, the floppy disk has only 1.44 megabytes of memory space. A single legal brief can easily take up the memory of two floppy disks. 

With so many new, efficient technologies available, we could easily do our legal work in our cells if the prison allowed it. We could use restricted laptops (without internet), or maybe even our electronic tablets, to review and work on legal documents without having to wait days for law library access. 

New Jersey State Prison is one of the oldest prisons in the United States, with a sign outside that announces: “Built in 1835.” But those of us who live inside it are trying to enter the modern world, so we can reliably do the important work of advocating for our freedom.