It’s 7 p.m. at Central Prison in North Carolina, and I find myself in a familiar dilemma. I’m nearing the end of my last bundle of the prepaid minutes I use to send messages, which I bought from the ...

This is part of Time, Online, a Future Tense series on how technology is changing prison. The other night, I tried to send my girlfriend, Faye, a goodnight text, but the unreliable messaging app on my ...