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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 …

Prisoners Pay Millions to Call Loved Ones Every Year. Now this Company Wants Even More

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

Filed under: Private Prisons, JPay, Inc., Telephone Rates

Prisoners Pay Millions to Call Loved Ones Every Year. Now this Company Wants Even More by Ben Walsh Prisoners Pay Millions to Call Loved Ones Every Year. Now this Company Wants Even More by Ben Walsh, Huffington Post A captive market, no competition and government contracts that make monopoly-enabled price …

Inside the Shadowy Business of Prison Phone Calls

Article • August 1, 2015 • from PLN August, 2015

Filed under: Computers, Money/Property, Trust Accounts, Telephone Rates, Visiting, Video Visitation

by providing the phone service, and the commissions help alleviate the financial burden. When reached by telephone earlier this year, Jonathan Thompson, executive director of the National Sheriffs ...

New Jersey County Seeks New Jail Phone Contract, Increases Commission Rate

Article • July 7, 2015 • from PLN July, 2015

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

New Jersey County Seeks New Jail Phone Contract, Increases Commission Rate by Derek Gilna New Jersey County Seeks New Jail Phone Contract, Increases Commission Rate by Derek Gilna Officials in Bergen County, New Jersey are seeking bids on a new jail phone contract that will include an increase in the …

Feds and Tennessee Officials Investigate Prisoners Using Facebook

Article • June 3, 2015 • from PLN June, 2015

Filed under: Computers, Cell Phone Access

Feds and Tennessee Officials Investigate Prisoners Using Facebook by David Reutter Feds and Tennessee Officials Investigate Prisoners Using Facebook by David Reutter The Bureau of Prisons is investigating two prisoners who were discovered using Facebook to “broadcast live” from a federal facility in Atlanta, where they are serving time on …

New Jersey, Ohio DOCs Significantly Reduce Phone Rates

Article • May 6, 2015 • from PLN May, 2015

Filed under: Telephone Rates

New Jersey, Ohio DOCs Significantly Reduce Phone Rates by New Jersey, Ohio DOCs Significantly Reduce Phone Rates According to an April 9, 2015 press release issued by New Jersey Advocates for Immigrant Detainees, LatinoJustice PRLDEF and the New York University School of Law Immigrant Rights Clinic, the New Jersey Department …

California Prisoner’s Conviction for Smuggling Tobacco Overturned

Article • April 9, 2015 • from PLN April, 2015

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Cell Phone Access

California Prisoner’s Conviction for Smuggling Tobacco Overturned by Lonnie Burton California Prisoner’s Conviction for Smuggling Tobacco Overturned by Lonnie Burton A California state prisoner convicted of a felony offense for smuggling tobacco into prison has had his conviction reversed by a California appellate court, although a related conviction for smuggling …

Screening Out Family Time: The For-Profit Video Visitation Industry in Prisons and Jails

Article • March 5, 2015 • from PLN March, 2015

Filed under: Computers, Telephone Access, Visiting, Extended Family Visiting

the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) capped the cost of interstate calls from prisons, these video chats were even cheaper than the telephone. Lisa’s experience is representative of the promise ...