Prison as much as poverty creates technological inequality, permanently keeping the marginalized out-of-step with the wizardry of modern legal practice. For lawyers and government entities enjoy the benefits of Westlaw and Lexis, PACER and the Internet, smart gadgets and Wi-Fi. Meanwhile, confinement conceals an information-rich society from people seeking justice without counsel.

Digital-born information outstrips paper; big data can only be read by smart machines. And technology consumes more of the knowledge landscape than literacy and education. See Ahmed Alkhateeb, “Science Has Outgrown the Human Mind and Its Limited Capacities,” Aeon, April 24, 2017.

The largest assemblages of learning are only accessible electronically. See “OCLC and Wikipedia Library Link Citations to Millions of Library Materials,” OCLC Press Release, May 11, 2017. And exclusively to those with the technology, skills and finances to connect to them.