Search | Prison Phone Justice

Iowa Court Effectively Bars Lifer From Spending Any Money While In Prison

Article • March 31, 2016

Filed under: Restitution, Commissary, Telephone Access

a $240,000 bill for court costs and restitution. This means that not only will Richter be prohibited from ever buying hygiene items or food items from the prison commissary, she cannot even make a telephone ...

Prison Phone Companies Seek New Revenue Source in Electronic Messaging

Article • February 29, 2016

Filed under: JPay, Inc., Telephones, Telephone Rates, Video Visitation

bureaus and sheriff's departments. Nothing Like Email At least 10 companies providing services ranging from financial transactions to telephone calls now offer electronic messaging at hundreds of jails ...

Prison Policy Initiative Releases Report on Email Services for Prisoners

Article • February 29, 2016 • from PLN March, 2016

Filed under: Prison Reform, Computers, Rehabilitation/Recidivism, Telephone Rates, Family

Prison Policy Initiative Releases Report on Email Services for Prisoners by Derek Gilna The non-profit, Massachusetts-based Prison Policy Initiative (PPI) has released a comprehensive study on communication options for prisoners, focusing on email services while also citing issues related to phone calls, visitation and postal mail. According to the January …

Oklahoma DOC, Sheriffs Challenge FCC’s Prison Phone Reforms

Article • February 29, 2016 • from PLN March, 2016

Filed under: Prison Reform, Telephones, Telephone Rates

Oklahoma DOC, Sheriffs Challenge FCC’s Prison Phone Reforms by Carrie Wilkinson A petition for review has been filed in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the Second Order and Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking released by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on November 4, 2015, which made sweeping …

From the Editor

Article • February 29, 2016 • from PLN March, 2016

Filed under: Jail Misconduct, Prison Reform, Jail Specific, Education, Telephone Rates, Video Visitation, PLN related

From the Editor by Paul Wright One downside of publishing a magazine like Prison Legal News for 26 years is that in some respects we are not covering a one-off or isolated story but rather are reporting an ongoing and developing issue. This month’s cover story about the epic abuse, …

Louisiana Jail Phone Consultants Resign Due to Conflicts of Interest

Article • January 12, 2016

Filed under: Telephone Rates

Louisiana Jail Phone Consultants Resign Due to Conflicts of Interest by David Reutter Two consultants hired to analyze the cost of prisoner phone calls charged by Louisiana’s Sheriffs have resigned due to conflict of interest. The Louisiana Public Service Commission (PSC) held two hearings in 2012 on the prison phone …

Texas Begins Intercepting and Blocking Cell Phone Calls from Prisons

Article • January 7, 2016

Filed under: Telephone Monitoring

Texas Begins Intercepting and Blocking Cell Phone Calls from Prisons by Matthew Clarke By Matt Clarke In April 2013, Texas began intercepting cell phone calls originating in two of its largest prisons. The equipment installed at the Stiles Unit in Beaumont and the McConnell Unit in Beeville is intended to …

California Officials Reverse Position after Receiving Prison Phone Company Contributions

Article • December 31, 2015 • from PLN January, 2016

Filed under: Government Misconduct, Telephone Rates

, where county officials received contributions from the telephone provider for the county jail, Global Tel*Link, which appear to have led two supervisors to end their opposition to GTL’s contract ...

Breaking News! FCC Votes to Further Reform Prison Phone Industry

Article • December 2, 2015 • from PLN December, 2015

Filed under: Prison Reform, Telephone Rates

Breaking News! FCC Votes to Further Reform Prison Phone Industry by Carrie Wilkinson Breaking News! FCC Votes to Further Reform Prison Phone Industry by Carrie Wilkinson The cover story of the December 2013 issue of Prison Legal News was titled “FCC Order Heralds Hope for Reform of Prison Phone Industry.” …

$54,000 Attorney Fee and Cost Award in Successful First Amendment Litigation

Article • October 27, 2015

Filed under: Telephone Access

rights action alleging the refusal to allow him to make telephone calls to his family in Romania and Jordan violated his rights. The defendants moved for summary judgment, claiming he failed to state ...

From the Editor

Article • October 26, 2015 • from PLN November, 2015

Filed under: Telephone Rates

, they will be issuing rules regulating all prison and jail telephone calls, including setting rate caps for debit and prepaid calls of $.11 per minute at prisons and $.14 to $.22 per minute at jails, plus banning most ...

Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders Files “Justice is Not for Sale Act”

Article • October 26, 2015 • from PLN November, 2015

Filed under: Private Prisons, Parole, Money/Property, Immigration, Telephone Rates

of inmate telephone and video service” that include rate caps and limits on ancillary fees, and that prohibit or restrict “the payment of commissions by providers of inmate telephone and video ...

Prisoner’s Right to Counsel Violated by Eavesdropping on Attorney Phone Calls

Article • October 26, 2015 • from PLN November, 2015

Filed under: Attorney Client, Attorney Calls

Prisoner’s Right to Counsel Violated by Eavesdropping on Attorney Phone Calls by Christopher Zoukis Prisoner’s Right to Counsel Violated by Eavesdropping on Attorney Phone Calls by Christopher Zoukis Charges against a Washington man awaiting trial on felony drug and stolen property charges were dropped by a Yakima County Superior Court …

From HRDC executive director Paul Wright, October 23, 2015, FCC Caps the Cost of Prison Phone Calls

Article • October 23, 2015

Filed under: Telephone Rates, PLN related

and bottom lines. Most of the reforms will go into effect within 90 days of publication in the Federal Register. We anticipate litigation by the hedge fund-owned prison telephone companies and efforts to evade ...

Prisoner Phone Service Providers Cannot Block Call Routing Service Calls

Article • October 14, 2015

Filed under: Telephone Access, Telephone Rates

of telephone calls is antithetical to its fundamental goal of making available “rapid, efficient, Nation-wide and world-wide wire radio communications services with adequate facilities.” Current ...

Mississippi Indictments Illustrate Prison Phone Corruption

Article • September 25, 2015 • from PLN October, 2015

Filed under: Contractor Misconduct, Telephone Rates

prison phone service provider, received from the company “five (5) percent of all revenue generated by the inmate telephone services contracts it had with the state of Mississippi.” In turn ...

Cell Phones Confiscated from Prisoners Given to Charities

Article • September 25, 2015 • from PLN October, 2015

Filed under: Prisoner Property, Cell Phone Access

Cell Phones Confiscated from Prisoners Given to Charities by Christopher Zoukis Cell Phones Confiscated from Prisoners Given to Charities by Christopher Zoukis Thousands of cell phones seized from prisoners nationwide have been donated to charitable causes, including domestic violence programs and Cell Phones for Soldiers. Cell phones are considered contraband …

New Jersey Board of Public Utilities Retains High Phone Rates for County Jails

Article • September 21, 2015

Filed under: Telephone Rates

called for a cap, similar to New York’s rate of no more than $0.05 per minute, on intrastate collect telephone calls for New Jersey prisoners in county jails and state prisons. The Board noted ...

Another Kind of Isolation - The Bureau of Prisons tightens the rules at its secretive “Communication Management Units.”

Article • September 16, 2015

Filed under: Telephone Access, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement

Another Kind of Isolation - The Bureau of Prisons tightens the rules at its secretive “Communication Management Units.” by Christie Thompson Another Kind of Isolation The Bureau of Prisons tightens the rules at its secretive “Communication Management Units.” By Christie Thompson In 2006 and 2008, the Bureau of Prisons quietly …

Delaware: Drop in Prison Phone Rates Called a “Drop in the Bucket”

Article • August 31, 2015 • from PLN September, 2015

Filed under: Telephone Rates

Delaware: Drop in Prison Phone Rates Called a “Drop in the Bucket” by Derek Gilna Delaware: Drop in Prison Phone Rates Called a “Drop in the Bucket” by Derek Gilna Delaware’s prison phone rates will be reduced as a result of a new contract entered into between the state Department …