Federal Prisoners in W.Va. Test MP3 Player Program At a federal prison in the mountains of southern West Virginia, hundreds of female inmates are taking part in a pilot program to bring the quality of entertainment behind bars into the 21st century. More than 400 inmates have spent about $70 apiece to buy an MP3 player from the commissary in the Federal Prison Camp at Alderson, then 80 cents to $1.55 per song to customize their playlists from a database offering about 1 million songs. It's essentially just an update in technology, says U.S. Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Traci Billingsley. Federal prisoners have been able to buy radios for decades. If the program works in West Virginia, it will be rolled out to other federal facilities in late spring or early summer. The maker of the music player says the new technology is also safer because cassette and CD players have motors, and CDs can be broken into sharp pieces. An MP3 player has no moving parts that can be used as weapons. In all, federal facilities house about 177,000 inmates, many of whom would be allowed to participate in the program unless they're in isolation or otherwise barred from using the in-house computers that store the music library. Keeping inmates busy helps promote safety, Billingsley said, particularly in overcrowded prisons where stress, conflict and the risk of violence is high. This image provided by Advanced Technologies Group Inc. shows an MP3 music player that they produce in Des. Moines Iowa, Friday, Mar. 2, 2012. 405 inmates at the Federal Prison camp in Alderson, W.Va., have spent $69.20 to buy a personal MP3 player from the commissary. But if it works in West Virginia, it will be rolled out to other federal facilities in late spring or early summer. AP Photo/Advanced Technologies Group Inc. "In a time of budget constraint, the MP3 program offers a way to occupy inmates - at no cost to the taxpayer," she wrote in an email responding to questions about the project. It also provides better access to music in rural areas with little or no radio reception. "It is part of a long-term plan to provide audio books and even audio recordings on a variety of topics," including education, Billingsley said. This could reduce recidivism and help those who leave prison to become productive citizens. Alderson - once dubbed "Camp Cupcake" by some news organizations - is the same minimum-security prison that housed lifestyle and media mogul Martha Stewart for five months in 2004 and 2005 after she was convicted of lying about a stock sale. It holds about 1,200 women. Administrators there declined to discuss the program or allow inmates to be interviewed. Kevin Curry, an inmate at West Virginia's maximum-security state prison, the Mount Olive Correctional Center, learned how important music is in what he calls "a scary, cold, hard place where you don't know anyone and you're not sure who, if anyone, you should know." Curry, 43, is four years into a 15- to 35-year term for three first-degree sexual assault convictions. Today, he has a guitar and a CD player. But for the three years that he awaited trial in a regional jail, he had no access to music. He missed it so desperately that he asked friends and family to mail him song lyrics. By reading the lyrics, I could hear the music in my mind. That really helped but still couldn't compare to the real thing," said Curry, who responded to a list of questions from The Associated Press through his ex-wife, who transcribed his answers during a telephone call. When Curry got to Mount Olive, the first item he bought from the commissary was a radio/CD player. His selections through a mail-order CD program are limited and don't include the Christian music he and some fellow prisoners would like, but Curry says he's grateful for what he gets.