For correctional officers, administrators, parole agents, and investigators
Rosie — Facility transparency overview
This page explains what Rosie is, how it works, the content safeguards in place, and what information is available to correctional facilities on request. We operate transparently and cooperatively with correctional oversight.
What is Rosie?
Rosie is an AI-powered companion service that allows family members of incarcerated people to provide their loved ones with access to an AI assistant. Family members create an account, fund a prepaid balance, and add their incarcerated loved one as a contact. The incarcerated person then messages Rosie through GettingOut — the same messaging platform they already use. Rosie replies through that same platform.
Rosie is designed to help with practical, constructive tasks: homework, essay writing, legal research, understanding CDCR regulations, medical questions, current events, and general companionship. It is paid for by families, not by the facility, and operates within existing communication infrastructure — not around it.
Rosie is not a human pretending to be a human. Every interaction is with an AI system, and we do not disguise this. The service identifies itself as Rosie — an AI — in every conversation.
How it works
Family funds the account
A family member creates an account on the Rosie website, adds the incarcerated person as a contact using their GettingOut ID, and funds a prepaid balance via credit card. No facility involvement or approval is required — funding goes through Stripe and GettingOut's existing infrastructure.
Inmate messages Rosie on GettingOut
The incarcerated person sends a message to Rosie using their existing GettingOut tablet — the same device and platform they use to message family. There is no separate app, no separate account, and no technology outside GettingOut's platform.
Rosie processes and responds
Rosie's server receives the message through GettingOut's API, generates a response using an AI language model (Claude by Anthropic), and sends the reply back through GettingOut's API. The response arrives in the inmate's GettingOut message thread — indistinguishable in the interface from any other GettingOut message.
All messages remain in GettingOut
Because both inbound and outbound messages flow entirely through GettingOut's platform, correctional staff have the same access to these messages as they do to any other GettingOut communication. No separate access request to Rosie is required to read these conversations — they are in GettingOut's system, exactly where you expect them.
We tell inmates their conversations are monitored
Rosie's welcome message — sent to every inmate when they start — includes this explicit notice: "GettingOut messages, including our conversations, can be read by correctional officers, your counselor, your parole agent, and the parole board. Please keep that in mind and save sensitive topics for in-person conversations with your attorney." This notice is also repeated proactively during any conversation that touches on sensitive topics. We do not facilitate any expectation of privacy.
Content safeguards
Rosie operates under a documented content policy enforced in its AI instruction layer. These restrictions apply to every conversation, regardless of how a request is framed.
What Rosie will not do
- Contact, message, email, or call anyone on an inmate's behalf
- Provide information on acquiring, making, concealing, or distributing weapons or controlled substances
- Look up addresses, phone numbers, locations, or routines of any private individual — including victims, witnesses, jurors, or anyone connected to their case
- Assist with gambling, betting strategies, or odds
- Generate sexually explicit content
- Provide guidance on bypassing or circumventing prison technology, network security, or physical security measures
- Assist with coordinating criminal activity or passing messages to co-defendants or outside contacts
- Help draft threatening, intimidating, or harassing communications
What Rosie is designed to do
- Help with homework, essay writing, and academic research
- Explain CDCR regulations (Title 15, DOM), grievance procedures, and rights
- Assist with understanding legal documents and processes — including recommending the prison law library's free WestLaw access for case-specific research
- Answer general health and medical questions (with appropriate disclaimers)
- Provide current news, weather, and sports information
- Assist with letter writing and personal documents
- Provide companionship, encouragement, and mental health resources
- Remind inmates of PREA rights, grievance procedures, and how to access mental health services
On legal research
Access to legal information is a constitutional right. Rosie assists with legal research but explicitly redirects inmates toward the prison law library's free WestLaw access for authoritative case law — explaining that it is a more reliable source than general web searches. Rosie does not provide legal advice specific to an inmate's own case.
Mental health and crisis responses
When a user expresses suicidal thoughts, self-harm intent, or discloses abuse or assault, Rosie does not treat this as a policy enforcement situation. It responds with care first, provides crisis resources, and explicitly directs the inmate to speak with facility mental health staff or their correctional counselor.
For disclosures of sexual abuse or assault, Rosie provides PREA resources including the PREA hotline (1-800-466-2287) and information about reporting to the facility PREA coordinator. For non-emergency mental health needs, Rosie explains the CDCR Form 7362 (Health Care Services Request) process. For grievances, Rosie explains the Form 602 process and PLRA requirements.
Rosie does not attempt to resolve or investigate reports of misconduct — it directs the inmate to appropriate facility channels and documents nothing independently outside of GettingOut's existing message log.
Audit information and records
receipt_long GettingOut message logs
All conversations with Rosie are stored in GettingOut's message system, the same as any other inmate message. Facilities with existing GettingOut access can read these conversations without any request to Rosie. Request access through your normal GettingOut facility administrator process.
security Policy enforcement log
We maintain an internal audit log that records every instance where Rosie declined a request under our content policy. Each entry includes: the policy rule triggered, the inmate ID, the account holder, and the timestamp. Message content is never stored in this log — only the fact that a rule was triggered. This log is available to correctional facilities and law enforcement with proper authorization.
account_circle Account and billing records
We maintain records of who funded each inmate's account (name, email, payment method via Stripe), when funds were added, and the full transaction history per inmate. These records are available to law enforcement with valid legal process (subpoena, court order).
history Conversation metadata
Rosie's database records the number of messages exchanged, timestamps, and message delivery status per inmate. Actual message content is in GettingOut's system; metadata only is stored on our servers. Available to law enforcement with legal process.
Contact for facility staff and law enforcement
If you have concerns about specific Rosie conversations, a request for audit log records, or questions about how the service operates in your facility, please contact us directly. We respond to facility and law enforcement inquiries within one business day.
For urgent concerns involving an active threat or emergency, do not contact Rosie first — follow your facility's emergency protocols. Rosie does not have real-time monitoring capability; GettingOut's staff may have faster access to relevant messages.
Facility and law enforcement inquiries
Legal process (subpoenas, court orders)