The House Oversight Committee is requesting California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom provide documents and communications regarding a state program that provided digital tablets to prisoners, following a news report that some inmates are using them to exploit minors and women and to watch and distribute porn.  

Committee Chairman James Comer, in a letter Tuesday to Newsom, is specifically seeking documents and communications related to the federal grant money given to the California Department of Corrections for the program, which the Kentucky Republican says began in mid-2023 and included essentially all state inmates.  

"These shocking revelations about prisoner tablet use call into question the federal funds and grants given to California for the specific purpose of reducing crime and rehabilitating criminals," the letter states. 

As an example, the letter cites an indictment of Nathaniel Diaz, who was convicted in 2023 of sexual crimes against a 12-year-old girl. Diaz allegedly used his tablet to exchange sexual messages with the girl he was convicted of abusing. The indictment, according to the letter, reveals that there is weak oversight over how the prisoners are using the tablets.