Search | Prison Phone Justice

FCC Slashes Prison and Jail Phone Rates, Caps Video Call Cost, Eliminates “Site Commission” Kickbacks

Article • October 15, 2024 • from PLN October, 2024

Filed under: Telephone Rates, Video Visitation, Federal Funds, Private Phone Contractors, Securus, Global Tel*Link Corp

the primary means of contacting family members and friends remains the landline telephone—technology that dates back to Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the first telephone in 1876. Until fairly ...

NJPP-PrisonProfiteers- How Private Companies Profit From Prison Phone Calls and Harm New Jersey Residents-Aug2024

Publication • August 1, 2024

Filed under: Telephone Rates, Private Phone Contractors

of Corrections Ombudsperson, many people incarcerated in New Jersey do not feel they have enough time on the telephone to maintain relationships with their loved ones.xv Still, the majority indicated the phone ...

Washington, Virginia Advance Bills to Make Prison Calls Free

Article • July 1, 2024 • from PLN July, 2024

Filed under: Telephone Rates

Washington, Virginia Advance Bills to Make Prison Calls Free by Lawmakers on both coasts of the U.S. sponsored legislation in January 2024 to make telecommunications free to state prisoners and their families. This follows a national trend to ease the financial burden on families with incarcerated loved ones and reduce …

Los Angeles County Makes Jail Phone Calls Free

Article • June 1, 2024 • from PLN June, 2024

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

Los Angeles County Makes Jail Phone Calls Free by On December 1, 2023, phone calls became free for detainees and prisoners in Los Angeles County jails. The county’s Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 on November 22, 2023, to amend the existing phone service contract with ViaPath Technologies—formerly Global Tel*Link (GTL)—to …

Fourth Circuit Reinstates HRDC’s RICO Claim Against Securus and ViaPath

Article • May 1, 2024 • from PLN May, 2024

Filed under: RICO, Telephone Rates, Civil RICO, HRDC Litigation, Securus, Global Tel*Link Corp

Fourth Circuit Reinstates HRDC’s RICO Claim Against Securus and ViaPath by On June 4, 2023, a request for a rehearing en banc before the entire U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit was denied in a suit accusing prison telecom providers Securus Technologies and Global Tel*Link (GTL)—now known as …

Massachusetts Makes Calls Free From Prisons and Jails

Article • May 1, 2024 • from PLN May, 2024

Filed under: Telephone Rates

Massachusetts Makes Calls Free From Prisons and Jails by Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) signed H. 1796 on November 15, 2023, making hers the fifth state in the nation to eliminate fees for prison and jail phone calls. When the law took effect on December 1, 2023, the state joined Connecticut, …

Incarcerated People’s Communications Services, Implementation of the Martha Wright-Reed Act; Rates for Interstate Inmate Calling Services, FCC WC Docket Nos. 23-62 and 12-375, Ex Parte Submission of t...

Publication • April 29, 2024

Filed under: Telephone Rates, Private Phone Contractors

, National Institute of Corrections, Model Practices for Parents in Prisons and Jails: Reducing Barriers to Family Connections at 59 (July 2019). 7 The Commission has recognized that providers of telephone ...

Florida County Makes Free Jail Phone Calls Available

Article • April 1, 2024 • from PLN April, 2024

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

Florida County Makes Free Jail Phone Calls Available by On October 1, 2023, phone calls became free for some 860 jail detainees at the jail in Florida’s Alachua County, whose Board of Commissioners voted for the change six months earlier. That brought the cost from 21 cents per minute to …

Compensation Awarded to California Non-Profit and HRDC Officials for Efforts Reducing Prison Phone Rates

Article • December 1, 2023 • from PLN December, 2023

Filed under: Advocacy, Telephone Rates, 18-B Compensation

the scope of PUC’s rulemaking beyond “text telephones” for prisoners with hearing-related disabilities to include VoIP (voice over internet protocol) services. When seeking compensation ...

Minnesota Makes All Calls Free in Prisons and Jails

Article • November 15, 2023 • from PLN November, 2023

Filed under: Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Telephone Rates, Family, Securus, Global Tel*Link Corp

Minnesota Makes All Calls Free in Prisons and Jails by On May 19, 2023, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) signed into law SF 2909, the Judiciary and Public Safety budget bill. Introduced by two Democratic state lawmakers, Sen. Clare Oumou Verbeten and Rep. Esther Agbaje, the measure made calls free …

Colorado One of Four States Making Phone Calls Free for Prisoners

Article • October 15, 2023 • from PLN October, 2023

Filed under: Telephone Rates

Colorado One of Four States Making Phone Calls Free for Prisoners by On June 7, 2023, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed House Bill (HB) 23-1133, requiring the state Department of Corrections (DOC) to provide, administer and – most importantly – not to profit from communications services used by prisoners. …

As e-Messaging Takes Off in U.S. Prisons, Complaints Over Service and Costs Multiply

Article • September 15, 2023 • from PLN September, 2023

Filed under: Telephone Rates, Electronically Stored Information, Prison Mail

As e-Messaging Takes Off in U.S. Prisons, Complaints Over Service and Costs Multiply by David Reutter by David M. Reutter Historically, prisoners have been largely left out of the technology wave changing the way the rest of the world communicates and does business. It wasn’t until March 2009 that the …

Sheriffs Offered Caribbean Cruises and Florida Retreats As Part Of Jail Telecom Contracts

Article • September 15, 2023 • from PLN September, 2023

Filed under: Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Telephones, Telephone Rates, Private Phone Contractors

Sheriffs Offered Caribbean Cruises and Florida Retreats As Part Of Jail Telecom Contracts by Hayden Betts by Hayden Betts Members of five sheriff’s offices across the country were offered cruises from “Tampa Bay to the Caribbean” as part of jail telecommunications contracts with the vendor Smart Communications, according to documents …

Prolonged COVID-19 Visitation Restrictions Net Georgia Jails Over $1.5 Million in Telecom Kickbacks

Article • August 15, 2023 • from PLN August, 2023

Filed under: COVID-19, Cost of Prison Systems, Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Telephone Rates, Video Visitation

Prolonged COVID-19 Visitation Restrictions Net Georgia Jails Over $1.5 Million in Telecom Kickbacks by Jordan Arizmendi by Jordan Arizmendi According to a report by the Georgia Current on April 14, 2023, jails in several of the state’s coastal counties were still profiting by extending COVID-19 visitation bans, forcing detainees and …

Prison Profiteer Who Chairs Christian Seminary Board Called Not Very ‘Christlike’

Article • August 15, 2023 • from PLN August, 2023

Filed under: Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Telephone Rates, Fraud and Deceit

Prison Profiteer Who Chairs Christian Seminary Board Called Not Very ‘Christlike’ by Kevin Bliss by Kevin W. Bliss Members of Princeton Theological Seminarians for Peace and Justice (SPJ) sent a letter on March 14, 2023, calling for resignation of seminary Board of Trustees Chairman Michael Fisch. After learning Fisch’s hedge …

Implementation of the Martha Wright-Reed Act-Rates for Interstate Inmate Calling Services, 2023

Brief • July 26, 2023

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

, as well as “differences in costs” based on facility size or “other characteristics.”7 It also allows the Commission to “use industry-wide average costs of telephone service and advanced communications ...

FCC Granted Broader Authority to Regulate Prisoner Call Costs

Article • July 15, 2023 • from PLN July, 2023

Filed under: Telephone Rates, Global Tel*Link Corp

FCC Granted Broader Authority to Regulate Prisoner Call Costs by Chuck Sharman by Chuck Sharman On March 16, 2023, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to begin rule-making to implement the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act of 2022. Named after a determined woman who tirelessly campaigned to lower …

California Appeals Court Affirms Rate Caps and Fee Limitations for Prison Telecoms

Article • July 15, 2023 • from PLN July, 2023

Filed under: Telephone Rates, Private Phone Contractors, Securus

Court of Appeal Makes Its Ruling To begin, the Court noted that the state Supreme Court said in The Ponderosa Telephone Co. v. Public Utilities Com., 36 Cal.App.5th 999 (2019), that there is a &ldquo ...

FCC Requires Prison Telecoms to Provide Services for Deaf Prisoners

Article • July 15, 2023 • from PLN July, 2023

Filed under: Deaf Prisoners, Americans with Disabilities Act, Telephone Rates, Private Phone Contractors

calls, which allow direct communication between two signing people. It also covers video relay services, a three-way system that allows a deaf user to sign to a speaking interpreter. Captioning telephones ...

CA Utilities Commission Fee Award 6-19-23

Publication • June 19, 2023

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

communications services serving people with disabilities. As discussed above, IPCS providers providing such services are telephone corporations and public utilities and as such are subject to our jurisdiction ...