Idaho prison officials said Thursday that nearly 350 inmates hacked into tablets used in the facilities and transferred a combined almost $225,000 into their accounts.
The Associated Press reported that Idaho Department of Corrections officials discovered the hacking of the JPay tablets earlier this month.
The tablets are used by inmates for email, to buy or listen to music and to play games, and are available through a contract between JPay and CenturyLink.
{mosads}
Idaho Department of Corrections spokesman Jeff Ray said in a statement that 364 inmates were “intentionally exploiting a vulnerability within JPay to improperly increase their JPay account balances.”
Fifty of the inmates credited more than $1,000 to their accounts, and the largest amount totaled nearly $10,000, according to the AP.
JPay has recovered more than $65,000 of the credits and inmates are no longer allowed to download music and games until the amount is paid off. Email access is still permitted.
“This conduct was intentional, not accidental. It required a knowledge of the JPay system and multiple actions by every inmate who exploited the system’s vulnerability to improperly credit their account,” Ray said.
Inmates who allegedly transferred the credits were issued disciplinary offense reports, meaning they could lose some privileges or be labeled as a higher security risk.