Situation: Kendall County incarcerated individuals had unproductive, idle time on their hands, which sometimes resulted in inmate on inmate violence. Additionally, Sheriff Dwight Baird felt the population did not have enough opportunity to improve their lives to prepare for reentry into society.

Results: Kendall County offered SecureView® Tablets to their incarcerated residents, which give them access to critical content such as free education programs. KA Lite is an offering on our complimentary community tablets which is helping two incarcerated individuals, Anthony Woodman and Sacsha Krantz, who were interviewed at this facility, achieve their goals for the future.

“It has taught me how to do my personal and business taxes, save money and rebuild my credit as opposed to filing for bankruptcy,” Woodman stated.

Additionally, he uses JobView, the Securus Technologies’ employment platform, available for free on the community tablets, which helps incarcerated individuals identify job opportunities so they can prepare for successful reentry. The complimentary app also allows the users to be able to learn the skills needed for the positions. Woodman has learned there are a variety of available construction jobs in his community.

“I feel optimistic and excited. I want to show my kids there is a way to make an honest living,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, Krantz also watches videos on the tablet for career building, but first, he is working on his education.

“I was able to prepare for the GED with the help of KA Lite,” he explained.

Deputy Commander Jeanne Russo helps supplement the GED program at the sheriff’s office with the community tablets.

“The SecureView® Tablet has increased the potential for our population to successfully complete a high school equivalency program. Incarcerated individuals use the application to supplement the classroom instruction they receive. It enables them to complete the life changing milestone of earning their GED, which is increasing the incarcerated individual’s feeling of self worth and positively impacting the morale in our institution.”

Krantz feels he is a good self learner and watched educational videos on SecureView tablets such as math and U.S. History to help him get ready for the test. He shares that he enjoys the flexibility of the learning program with the opportunity to teach himself with whatever tools work best.

He adds that working on the tablet makes him feel positive. Ideally, he would like to work with his hands and get experience in brick laying.

“KA Lite is also preparing me with good job skills like grammar. Since I will have a GED, I will tend to get paid more, which will make it easier to live on my own,” Krantz concluded.

Since the interview, Krantz has been transferred to Sheridan Correctional Center of the Illinois Department of Corrections where he is serving a five year sentence.