By, Charles N. Diorio, inmateauthorproject.org
September 10, 2026
Prisoners in Massachusetts read a notice from AccessCorrection: "Yahoo site(s) will be unavailable for 36 hours for technical maintenance". Immediately, incarcerated people worried that Yahoo and other internet streaming services will be impacted. This would not be the first time.
Incarcerated people have, over a decade, been allowed to download streaming news services, like Yahoo News, BBC, Public Broadcasting, and podcasts. Also, music, games and movies can be downloaded from secure WiFi which has been part of prison life for nearly 20 years.
Now, these streaming services – which cost $16.00 dollars each month – are again being removed "for maintenance".
Prison profiteering is a part of jail's and prison's across Massachusetts and America. Inmates can send free email, download songs, movies and games. The Tablet is ubiquitous and found in jails and prisons across the Commonwealth. These Android devices are provided free of charge to every detainee and convict.
Disgruntled inmates who have witnessed abuses over the years, like taking news services, or restrictions to video downloads on news sites like BBC or Fox News, and Yahoo, bristle at the possibility Yahoo News may be taken – like Fox News and other services. Many inmates complain $16.00 dollars per month is too much money for limited services.
Jail and prison is home to very poor people who can't afford $16.00 dollars. This cost is passed on to friends and family who subsidize these costly services.
Now, incarcerated people in Massachusetts have a short 36 hour service interruption, but many complaints are about paying for a service that does not allow video, or audio or other elements of the news. Most of these news services, like BBC World Service and Yahoo News rely almost entirely on video to tell the news.
Department of Correction, from coast-to-coast are making a fortune off of incarcerated people paying $16.00 dollars each month for streaming services. At the very least allow the news to appear without censorship.
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