A convicted sex offender used a California taxpayer-funded prison tablet to groom a 12-year-old girl, and that is just one story buried inside a $189 million program sold to the public as rehabilitation.
Story Snapshot
- California distributed roughly 90,000 tablets to state prisoners starting in August 2021 under a contract worth nearly $189 million.
- The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation described the devices as “tightly controlled education tools” meant to reduce crime and support re-entry.
- Death row inmates told reporters they used the tablets to receive explicit photos and watch pornographic material.
- A convicted sex offender named Nathaniel Ray Diaz allegedly used his prison-issued tablet to contact and exploit a 12-year-old girl while incarcerated.
What California Told Taxpayers the Tablets Were For
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation framed the tablet program as a digital equity initiative for what officials called “justice-impacted” individuals. The stated goals were straightforward: give inmates access to the Bible, educational coursework, and re-entry resources. The argument was that connectivity reduces recidivism, and recidivism reduction saves money. On paper, it is a reasonable hypothesis. The problem is that good intentions do not survive contact with poor oversight, and California appears to have delivered very little of the latter. [1]
Investigative journalist Christopher Rufo reported in City Journal that the program’s real-world results look nothing like the brochure. Serial murderer Robert Mory, described as a convicted rapist known as the “tipster killer,” admitted to receiving nude photos through the device. Death row inmates confirmed to reporters that explicit content was flowing freely through the system. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation called the tablets “tightly controlled,” but the documented evidence suggests those controls were either absent or entirely ineffective. [2]
A Sex Offender Used His Tablet to Target a Child
The case of Nathaniel Ray Diaz strips away any remaining ambiguity about what program failure looks like in human terms. Diaz, a convicted sex offender serving time in a California state prison, stands accused of using his state-issued tablet to contact and exploit a 12-year-old girl. This is not a hypothetical risk that critics invented to score political points. It is a named individual, a named victim, and a direct contradiction of every assurance the state offered when it signed the contract. [1] [2]
The Pattern California Ignored Has Been Documented for Two Decades
Prison technology programs follow a predictable and well-worn cycle. Correctional agencies introduce communication or educational tools with rehabilitation goals. The technology enables unintended uses. A media investigation surfaces specific cases. The institution defends itself by claiming tight controls without releasing monitoring data. Then the public debate splits cleanly between rehabilitation advocates and security critics, and nothing substantive changes. California did not invent this problem, but it spent $189 million walking straight into it with its eyes open. [1] [2] [3]
Christians Beware: Newsom’s $189 Million “Nordic-Style” Prison Tablet Program Lets Inmates Watch Porn on Taxpayer Dollars
(Chris Rufo exposé just dropped today — and the program is still running.)
• What Newsom did: Under Gavin Newsom’s push to turn California prisons into a…— L B (@LB34015283) May 13, 2026
What makes California’s version particularly difficult to defend is the scale. Ninety thousand tablets. Nearly $189 million in taxpayer money. A program marketed as progressive criminal justice reform that apparently lacked the basic content filtering any parent installs on a child’s phone for free. When the state cannot demonstrate that it monitored usage, enforced restrictions, or detected a sex offender grooming a child through a device it issued and paid for, the “tight controls” claim does not just fall flat. It becomes an indictment of the entire administrative apparatus that approved the contract. [2] [3]
What Accountability Should Actually Look Like Here
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation owes the public a full accounting: how content restrictions were implemented, who audited compliance, what monitoring existed, and how many additional incidents remain unreported. Rehabilitation as a correctional goal is not inherently wrong. Reducing recidivism benefits everyone. But rehabilitation programs that operate without transparency, without measurable outcomes, and without the basic safeguards that would protect a child from a predator inside a cell are not reform. They are negligence dressed up in progressive language, funded by people who had no idea what they were paying for. [1] [2] [3]
Sources:
[1] Web – Newsom’s $189M Taxpayer-Funded Prison Tablet Program Rocked …
[2] Web – Report: CA Spent Nearly $189 Million to Give Every State Prisoner …
[3] Web – Gavin Newsom Gave California Prisoners Almost $200 Million Worth …
