The Bergen County Jail in Hackensack, New Jersey, has become the first correctional facility in the country to provide laptop computers to its inmates. Why? Legal research, of course:

Before, inmates who wanted to use the Westlaw research service had to file into the jail's law library, where 12 computers are crammed into the same space as guards and stacks of legal texts.

Now, they can request a laptop delivery to their cells, meal-style. They can then access Westlaw via an internal system.

"There's virtually nothing else installed on these laptops," said Lenny Hennig, the jail's network administrator.

Expectedly, there are many critics of this move, but as the sheriff and others have pointed out, a large percentage of inmates in county jails have not yet been found guilty of anything. These inmates are still awaiting trial and access to comprehensive legal research materials may be vital to trial preparation.

The PCs officials are distributing to inmates are extremely small, about the size of of a hardback novel, and are not connected to the Internet in any way. (To see a photo of these mini PCs, check out this news story.)

This is certainly an innovative idea, and I'll be curious to see how things develop.

[NorthJersey.com] Bergen Jail first to provide online legal aid in cells