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Class Action Suits Challenge Rip-Off Prison and Jail Phone Rates

Article • August 15, 1999 • from PLN August, 1999

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

, the Illinois counties of DuPage, Cook, and Kane and telephone companies AT&T, Invisions Telecom, MCI Telecommunications Corporation and Consolidated Communications Public Services, Inc. The plaintiffs allege ...

FCC Requires Rate Disclosure for Prison Phones

Article • August 15, 1999 • from PLN August, 1999

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

shall: (i) Identify itself, audibly and distinctly, to the consumer before connecting any interstate, domestic, in interexchange telephone call and disclose immediately hereafter how the consumer may ...

Kentucky Utilities Commission Reduces Prison and Jail Phone Rates

Article • August 15, 1999 • from PLN August, 1999

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

of an operator Surcharge Rate for Collect Telephone Calls from Confinement Facilities; and Obligations of Inmate Phone Service Providers to Call Recipients Regarding Notice of Blocking and Billing Procedures ...

Judicial Sentence of Life in Solitary Upheld

Article • March 15, 1999 • from PLN March, 1999

Filed under: Gang Policies, Criminal Prosecution, Judiciary, Telephones, Telephone Access, Mail Regulations

Judicial Sentence of Life in Solitary Upheld by The court of appeals for the Second circuit affirmed a court imposed sentence of life imprisonment in solitary confinement and prohibiting all communication with anyone except the defendant's attorney and close family members after the district court had approved them. The appeals …

Settlement in Washington State Deaf Prisoners' Lawsuit

Article • February 15, 1999 • from PLN February, 1999

Filed under: Deaf Prisoners, Disabled Prisoners, Attorney Fee Awards, Attorney Fees (PLRA), Damages, Settlements, Americans with Disabilities Act, Rehabilitation Act, Interpreters, Telephones, Telephone Access

Settlement in Washington State Deaf Prisoners' Lawsuit by Jeff Crollard Aclass action lawsuit was settled on behalf of deaf and hearing-impaired prisoners in Washington State on September 3, 1998. The settlement agreement obligates the Washington State Department of Corrections to provide qualified sign language interpreters and assistive devices, such as …

Colorado Supreme Court Holds Utility Commission Lacks Jurisdiction Over Prison Phone Gouging

Article • November 15, 1998 • from PLN November, 1998

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

Telephone System (ITS) implemented by the Colorado DOC and Sprint Communications Company violated state public utilities law by overcharging for prisoner calls. The PUC dismissed the petition, holding it had ...

ADA/RA Apply to Jails and Give Deaf Right to TDD

Article • November 15, 1998 • from PLN November, 1998

Filed under: Deaf Prisoners, Americans with Disabilities Act, Rehabilitation Act, Telephones, Telephone Access, Qualified Immunity

to jails and require that deaf prisoners be given access to alternate assistance in using a telephone, such as a Telephone Text Device (TDD) and TDD directory or a sign-language interpreter according ...

Phone Profits 'Benefit' Jail Detainees

Article • October 15, 1998 • from PLN October, 1998

Filed under: Misconduct/Corruption, Jail Misconduct, Telephone Rates

Phone Profits 'Benefit' Jail Detainees by The Stanislaus County (CA) Jail has a contract with Correctional Communication Corp., a private telephone company that caters to the Prison ...

NJ Prisoners Refuse to Swallow PINs

Article • August 15, 1998 • from PLN August, 1998

Filed under: Prison Rebellion, Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates

memo that all Trenton State prisoners would now be required to complete and submit telephone IPIN [Individual Personal Identification Number] forms, listing ten names and phone numbers ...

MCI Refund to Florida Prisoner Families

Article • August 15, 1998 • from PLN August, 1998

Filed under: Misconduct/Corruption, Contractor Misconduct, Telephone Rates

MCI Refund to Florida Prisoner Families by Friends and family of Florida prisoners may be entitled to $190,000 worth of free telephone calls under a recommendation issued ...

Letter of Apology from TCI

Article • July 15, 1998 • from PLN July, 1998

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

Letter of Apology from TCI by Reader Mail Dear PLN , We are aware of the difficulties our customers have had over the past several months in attempting to obtain service from us. Demand has been so great that, because of being underfunded and understaffed, we were not able to …

Prison Phones Discussed

Article • May 15, 1998 • from PLN May, 1998

Filed under: Injunctions, Estoppell, Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Monitoring

of such systems. This ruling arose from an indirect challenge to the Massachusetts Inmate Telephone System (MITS). The MITS requires prisoners to obtain a personal identification number to call 15 pre-approved ...

Deaf Prisoners in Washington Seek Class-Wide Relief

Article • February 15, 1998 • from PLN February, 1998

Filed under: Deaf Prisoners, Education, Civil Procedure, State Law Claims, Americans with Disabilities Act, Rehabilitation Act, Interpreters, Telephone Access

aids (such as visual alarm systems), or with access to TTY telephones that is equal to the access hearing prisoners have to regular telephones. The complaint alleges that this failure violates the ADA ...

Bureau of Prisons Gag Rule Enacted

Article • February 15, 1998 • from PLN February, 1998

Filed under: Political Prisoners, Telephones, Telephone Access, Mail Regulations, Access to Media, Censorship

, but not limited to, correspondence, visiting, interviews with representatives of the news media, and use of the telephone, as is reasonably necessary to prevent the disclosure of classified information." Section ...

TCI Breaks 'Inmate Telephone System' Stranglehold

Article • January 15, 1998 • from PLN January, 1998

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

: (Obviously, your mileage may vary local and long distance telephone rates vary from place to place). It cost my wife about $40 in various charges to get the TCI service hooked up. TCI says this is high; most ...

Prisoner Calls Big Business in CA

Article • November 15, 1997 • from PLN November, 1997

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

with "public pay telephones." Yet the "public" pays only a $1.05 surcharge when using a pay phone. Only those accepting collect calls from CA prisoners are forced to pay the $3.00 surcharge. Prisoners' families ...

Experiment in Access: Law Libraries Eliminated in Arizona Prisons

Article • October 15, 1997 • from PLN October, 1997

Filed under: Attorney Client, Law Library Access/Adequacy, Paralegals, Photocopies, Telephones, Attorney Calls, Legal Mail

Experiment in Access: Law Libraries Eliminated in Arizona Prisons by O'Neil Stough The August 1996, issue of PLN reported Lewis v. Casey, 116 S.Ct. 2174 (1996). The Lewis court, though not explicitly overturning Bounds v. Smith, 430 US 817, 97 S.Ct. 1491 (1977), redefined the meaning of "court access" as …

Alabama Phone System Upheld

Article • September 15, 1997 • from PLN September, 1997

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Access

Alabama Phone System Upheld by The court of appeals for the eleventh circuit held that a lower court had erred in finding that a telephone calling list of ten people violated prisoners ...

Illinois DOC Phone System Upheld

Article • May 15, 1997 • from PLN May, 1997

Filed under: Standing, Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates, Telephone Monitoring, Qualified Immunity

on prisoners' telephone access may violate the First and Fourteenth Amendment. Tucker v. Randall, 948 F.2d 388, 391 (7th Cir. 1991). Denial of attorney telephone calls, furthermore, would run afoul of the Sixth ...

Connecticut Supreme Court Upholds Phone and Mail Restrictions

Article • April 15, 1997 • from PLN April, 1997

Filed under: Telephones, Attorney Calls, Telephone Monitoring, Mail Regulations

Connecticut Supreme Court Upholds Phone and Mail Restrictions by In the February, 1995, issue of PLN we reported that Connecticut state prisoners had filed a class action suit in state court challenging prison regulations that required the recording of prisoner phone calls and that prisoners, outgoing mail could be read …