Search | Prison Phone Justice

GTL/ViaPath Ordered to Pay $3 Million for Violations  of Consumer Protection Laws

Article • June 1, 2025 • from PLN June, 2025

Filed under: Telephone Rates, Bid-Rigging, Price-Fixing, etc., Global Tel*Link Corp

GTL/ViaPath Ordered to Pay $3 Million for Violations of Consumer Protection Laws by Global Tel*Link (GTL), doing business as ViaPath Technologies, is one of the nation’s largest providers of carceral communications services, including phones, video calling, and e-messaging. Its subsidiaries include Telmate, LLC and TouchPay Holdings, LLC; the latter provides …

Smart Communications Files for Bankruptcy Protection

Article • June 1, 2025 • from PLN June, 2025

Filed under: Telephones, Mail, Legal Mail, Private Phone Contractors

Smart Communications Files for Bankruptcy Protection by Smart Communications Holding, Inc., provides a variety of communications services in prisons and jails nationwide, including phone calls, video calling, tablets and e-messaging. It’s best known for its mail scanning program, MailGuard, which digitizes correspondence sent to prisoners and provides the scans on …

A Song for Condemned Alabama Prisoner

Article • April 1, 2025 • from PLN April, 2025

Filed under: Witnesses, Telephone Monitoring, Evidence - Failure to Disclose

in their Sunday best/Hand to Bible they did confess/Condemned to reap what deceit had sown/In a deadly game of telephone.” Johnson waits at Holman Correctional Facility for a new trial or for Marshall ...

GTL, Co-Defendant Agree to $21.3 Million Settlement with HRDC in Price-Fixing Lawsuit

Article • April 1, 2025 • from PLN April, 2025

Filed under: Settlements, Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Telephone Rates, HRDC Litigation, Global Tel*Link Corp

GTL, Co-Defendant Agree to $21.3 Million Settlement with HRDC in Price-Fixing Lawsuit by On October 31, 2024, preliminary approval was granted to a settlement reached with the second of three prison telecom giants accused of illegal price-fixing. The suit was filed in June 2020 in United States District Court for …

Albert v. GLOBAL TELLINK CORP, MD, Memorandum Opinion and Order, Telephone Rates, 2025

Brief • April 1, 2025

Filed under: Misconduct/Corruption, Contractor Misconduct, Telephones, Telephone Rates, Antitrust Offenses, Bid-Rigging, Price-Fixing, etc., Kickback Scheme, Securus, Global Tel*Link Corp

Albert v. GLOBAL TELLINK CORP, MD, Memorandum Opinion and Order, Telephone Rates, 2025 Case 8:20-cv-01936-LKG Document 492 Filed 10/31/25 Page 1 of 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT ...

Pay-for-Play Tablets: The Costly New Prison Paradigm

Article • March 1, 2025 • from PLN March, 2025

Filed under: Food/Commissary (Private Prisons), Electronic Tablets, Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Telephone Rates, Tapes/Music, Securus, Global Tel*Link Corp

with their incarcerated loved ones? The NASPO master agreement specifies that phone calls made by prisoners (excluding attorney calls) shall be recorded and stored for the life of the contract, with call record details ...

Mayhem, Murder and Staff Misconduct at Brooklyn BOP Lockup

Article • March 1, 2025 • from PLN March, 2025

Filed under: Cell Searches, Drug Testing, Prison/Jail Murders, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Cell Phone Access, Searches - Cellphones/Computers/Internet

Mayhem, Murder and Staff Misconduct at Brooklyn BOP Lockup by The Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), a notorious federal jail in Brooklyn, New York, has made the news repeatedly thanks to some high-profile detainees held there to await trial. But federal prosecutors have also charged nine detainees for a series of …

20 South Carolina Prisoners Sentenced So Far for Deadly 2018 Riot

Article • February 15, 2025 • from PLN February, 2025

Filed under: Retaliation, Prison Rebellion, Prison Gangs, Staffing, Cell Phone Access

20 South Carolina Prisoners Sentenced So Far for Deadly 2018 Riot by Two South Carolina prisoners were sentenced on December 10, 2024, for their roles in a riot that killed seven fellow prisoners and injured 20 more. They were the most recent of 20 prisoners sentenced so far for convictions …

First Circuit Rejects Request by Securus and Pay Tel to Stay FCC Prison Phone Rate Caps

Article • January 15, 2025 • from PLN January, 2025

Filed under: Telephone Rates, Private Phone Contractors, Securus

First Circuit Rejects Request by Securus and Pay Tel to Stay FCC Prison Phone Rate Caps by On November 18, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued two orders denying motions filed by Securus Technologies, LLC, and Pay Tel Communications, Inc., seeking to stay implementation …

Securus/JPay Video Calling Service Potentially Threatened by New Rate Caps

Article • January 15, 2025 • from PLN January, 2025

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

Securus/JPay Video Calling Service Potentially Threatened by New Rate Caps by On November 19, 2024, prison telecom Securus Technologies, Inc., along with subsidiary JPay, notified users of services provided by the firms at prisons and jails of steps being taken to comply with a recent Federal Communications Commission (FCC) order. …

Eighth Circuit Asked to Block New FCC Rules Capping Prison Phone Rates and Eliminating Ancillary Fees and Kickbacks

Article • November 15, 2024 • from PLN November, 2024

Filed under: Telephone Rates, Federal Funds

Eighth Circuit Asked to Block New FCC Rules Capping Prison Phone Rates and Eliminating Ancillary Fees and Kickbacks by In a petition filed on September 30, 2024, the Republican Attorneys General of 14 states asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit to block new rate caps on …

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 ...

Nevada Supreme Court Holds That Violating Jail Phone Policy Does Not Waive Attorney-Client Privilege

Article • September 15, 2024 • from PLN September, 2024

Filed under: Attorney Client, Attorney Calls

Nevada Supreme Court Holds That Violating Jail Phone Policy Does Not Waive Attorney-Client Privilege by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney When a jail is found to violate a detainee’s Sixth Amendment expectation that communications with his attorney are privileged, courts often shrug it off as harmless; after all, the detainee …

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 …

“Third Time Is Not the Charm” For Texas Jailers Barred by PLRA from Enforcing Prior Settlement Agreement Against Prisoner in New Suit

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

Filed under: Jail Specific, PLRA, Settlements, Attorney Calls, Civil Settlement - Effect of, Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), Wiretaps/Wiretap Evidence

“Third Time Is Not the Charm” For Texas Jailers Barred by PLRA from Enforcing Prior Settlement Agreement Against Prisoner in New Suit by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On January 12, 2024, the federal court for the Western District of Texas refused a motion by Williamson County Correctional Facility (WCCF) …

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 ...