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No Way to Call Home: Incarcerated Deaf People Are Locked in a Prison Inside a Prison

Article • September 22, 2016

Filed under: Deaf Prisoners, Disabled Prisoners, Americans with Disabilities Act, Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates, Video Visitation, Family

for the receiver on the other end. For many in the deaf community, VRS is a part of everyday life, just like a landline telephone, but the service is not available at the Jefferson Parish Prison and most jails ...

Global Tel Link v. Federal Communications Commission and United States of America, DC, Amicus Brief for States of MN, IL, MA, NM, NY, WA, and DC, Telephone Contact During Incarceration, 2016

Brief • September 19, 2016

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates, Family

. ................................................................. 8 C. The FCC’s Order Also Supports Improved Outcomes For Offenders’ Families And Children. ..................................................... 11 IMPLEMENTATION OF REASONABLE TELEPHONE RATES ...

GTL v. FCC-ICS, DC, Amicus Brief Support of State Respondents, telephone rates, 2016

Brief • September 19, 2016

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

GTL v. FCC-ICS, DC, Amicus Brief Support of State Respondents, telephone rates, 2016 USCA Case #15-1461 Document #1636355 Filed: 09/19/2016 Page 1 of 27 NOT YET SCHEDULED FOR ORAL ARGUMENT No. 15 ...

Family Connections Bill Signed into Law in Illinois

Article • September 2, 2016 • from PLN September, 2016

Filed under: Release and Reentry, Telephones, Telephone Rates, Family

Family Connections Bill Signed into Law in Illinois by Carrie Wilkinson Illinois Governor Bruce V. Rauner signed HB 6200, the Family Connections Bill, into law on August 22, 2016. Under the provisions of that legislation, domestic prison phone rates within the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) and Department of Juvenile …

The Fight for Comprehensive Prison Phone Reform Continues

Article • September 2, 2016 • from PLN September, 2016

Filed under: Money/Property, Telephones, Telephone Rates, PLN Litigation, Family, PLN related

The Fight for Comprehensive Prison Phone Reform Continues by Carrie Wilkinson As previously reported in PLN, the prison telecom industry has been successful so far in delaying implementation of the rate caps ordered by the FCC in October 2015. [See: PLN, May 2016, p.36; Dec. 2015, p.40]. And while the …

HRDC Letter to Fisch, American Securities, Re Global TelLink and Human Rights Watch, 2015

Publication • September 1, 2016

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates

it is committed to fulfilling “its responsibilities with the highest level of integrity and ethics,” we submit it is inherently unethical to gouge prisoners’ families through exorbitant telephone rates and monopoly ...

Arkansas Federal Court Holds No First Amendment Right to Lower Prison Phone Rates

Article • August 25, 2016

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates, First Amendment

no First Amendment right to a specific telephone rate. Arkansas state prisoners Winston Holloway and Joseph Breault filed a civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in federal court alleging ...

Court Certifies Class-Action in Lawsuit Over Washington State Prison Phones

Article • August 23, 2016

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

to the failure of the prisoner telephone service in some Washington State prisons to provide rate information. Sandy Judd, Tara Herivel and Columbia Legal Services are class representatives for persons who ...

Texas Legislature Authorizes Doubling of Prisoners' Monthly Phone Minutes

Article • August 22, 2016

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

Texas Legislature Authorizes Doubling of Prisoners' Monthly Phone Minutes by Matthew Clarke In 2007, when Texas became the last state in the union to allow prisoner phone calls, the limit on phone usage was 120 minutes a month. In 2009, the Texas Board of Criminal Justice (TBCJ) responded to requests …

Sheriff Letter to Board of Supervisors re inmate telephone system, LASD, 2016

Publication • August 12, 2016

Filed under: Jail Specific, Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates

. FOR INMATE TELEPHONE SYSTEM (ITS) AND SERVICES Call services, excluding the Ancillary Service Charges and FCCpermissible Taxes and regulatory fees listed in Exhibit C (Telephone Rates and Payment Schedule ...

Canada: Phone Access Vital for Incarcerated Mothers

Article • August 10, 2016

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates, Mothers in Prison, Children of Prisoners

Canada: Phone Access Vital for Incarcerated Mothers by The Elizabeth Fry Society of Saskatchewan hosted an event on May 11, 2016 that coincided with Mother’s Day to raise awareness about women impacted by the criminal justice system and to highlight the fact that most incarcerated women are mothers and were …

FCC Quashes Company's Blockage of Discounted Prisoner Call Plans

Article • August 10, 2016

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

incarcerated individuals from calling unauthorized numbers to prevent bypassing their significantly more expensive and monopolistic telephone network sold to correctional institutions in return for a share ...

Louisiana Prisoner Phone Charge Scandal Pushed to Closed Door Session

Article • August 10, 2016

Filed under: Contractor Misconduct, Telephones, Telephone Rates

placed surcharge fees on prisoner telephones behind closed doors. City Tele Coin serves about 30 parish and municipal jails around Louisiana. In 2006, the PSC refused to allow the company to add surcharge ...

Prison Phone Policy, MN DOC, 2008

Publication • August 9, 2016

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates, Attorney Calls

and adopted), parents and siblings (birth, step, adopted and half). Attorney calls - offender calls to verified attorneys. Telephone monitoring - the electronic tracking, recording, and listening to of offender ...

Please Deposit All of Your Money: Kickbacks, Rates, and Hidden Fees in the Jail Phone Industry, Prison Policy Initiative, 2013

Publication • August 9, 2016

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

include the impact on jails makes it clear that the number of people victimized by high telephone rates and fees is far higher than previously understood. (For simplicity, we will continue to use the phrase ...

Kaelin v. County of Riverside, CA, Consolidated Opp to MTD - Inmate Phone Systems, 2016

Brief • August 8, 2016

Filed under: Tax Law, Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates, Mail, First Amendment, rights

THE IMPOSITION OF THE UNLAWFUL TAX UNCONSTITUTIONALLY BURDENS PLAINTIFFS’ FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH In contrast to Defendants’ contentions, inmates do “have a First Amendment right to telephone access ...

New Jersey Prison Phone Class-action Suit Against Global Tel*Link Continues

Article • August 2, 2016 • from PLN August, 2016

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

New Jersey Prison Phone Class-action Suit Against Global Tel*Link Continues by Derek Gilna A New Jersey federal district court denied a motion to dismiss filed by prison telecom giant Global Tel*Link (GTL) and its subsidiary DSI-ITI in a class-action lawsuit alleging predatory practices in providing phone service to New Jersey …

From the Editor

Article • August 2, 2016 • from PLN August, 2016

Filed under: Editorials, Telephones, Telephone Rates, Publications/Books, Mail Regulations, PLN Litigation, Censorship, First Amendment, PLN related

From the Editor by Paul Wright The Campaign for Prison Phone Justice, co-founded by the Human Rights Defense Center, has led the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to curb some of the more egregious abuses of the prison telecom industry. It has also helped focus increased attention from all sources, including …

HRDC comment to FCC re low phone rates at Davidson County, TN jail - July 2016

Publication • July 16, 2016

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates, HRDC Publications

as the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) and its member sheriffs, alleging high costs for the provision of prison and jail telephone services; the high (but unsubstantiated) costs incurred by correctional ...

MA DOC ICS Rates effective April 2016

Kickback publication • July 7, 2016

Filed under: Telephone Rates

MA DOC ICS Rates effective April 2016 OFFICIAL NOTICE Massachusetts Department of Correction Inmate Calling Rates New Call rates are effective on April 1st, 2016. The rates do not include applicable federal, state or local taxes or regulatory fees. All Calls are a flat Per Minute Rate Instate calls: ……… …