In today’s world of constant technological disruption, the prison system has been incredibly slow to adapt. Distressingly, text and voicemail are major innovations to the current communication infrastructure. According to The Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center, half of all prisoners lose touch with friends and family while in prison, yet research has illustrated the importance of maintaining social connections while incarcerated in order to be successful on release. This panel will see experts in this space discussing the current exploitative state of prison communications, the technology now being implemented, and what impact this is having during incarceration as well as on recidivism.