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Welsh Prisoner Used Phone Hidden in Rectum to Snag Guards with “Flirty” Calls

Article • February 7, 2023

Filed under: Staff-Prisoner Harassment, Guard Misconduct, Cell Searches, Cell Phone Access

Welsh Prisoner Used Phone Hidden in Rectum to Snag Guards with “Flirty” Calls by Jo Ellen Nott by Jo Ellen Nott A former guard and a former nurse at a prison in the United Kingdom – who both fell for “flirty” calls on a contraband cellphone from a “Romeo inmate,” …

New York City Jails Admit Illegally Recording Over 2,200 Attorney-Client Phone Calls

Article • November 30, 2022 • from PLN December, 2022

Filed under: Attorney Calls, Recorded Calls

;it is not the Department’s policy to record confidential attorney calls.” But he called it “worth noting” that all calls include “a pre-recorded admonishment” warning that it is being ...

Maine Caps Price of Phone Calls in State Prisons and Jails

Article • October 31, 2022 • from PLN November, 2022

Filed under: Telephone Rates

free weekly minutes for attorney calls and 30 more minutes for other calls, anytime their account balance falls below ten dollars. Randall Liberty, DOC’s ironically named commissioner, said ...

The Catalog of Carceral Surveillance: Tablet Advertising That Can Also Issue Discipline

Article • October 31, 2022 • from PLN November, 2022

Filed under: Telephone Access, Telephone Monitoring, Securus

facility, does not have a trustee account, calling account, prepaid account or other means by which to pay for telephone calls,” Securus writes in the introduction to its patent. “The detainee ...

Indiana Caps Phone Rates in State Prisons and Jails

Article • September 1, 2022 • from PLN September, 2022

Filed under: Telephone Rates

Indiana Caps Phone Rates in State Prisons and Jails by Ashleigh Dye by Ashleigh N. Dye On July 1, 2022, a new Indiana law took effect that caps the price charged for phone calls in state prisons and jails. With the change, those held by the state Department of Corrections …

California Court Sides With Securus in Challenge to CDCR Contract, Dealing Only Temporary Setback to GTL

Article • September 1, 2022 • from PLN September, 2022

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

to exceed it for video calls and international telephone calls. In this way, Respondents granted GTL an unfair advantage the California law proscribes.” As the Court determined that a writ of mandate ...

The Catalog of Carceral Surveillance: Monitoring Online Purchases of Inmates’ Family and Friends

Article • July 15, 2022 • from PLN July, 2022

Filed under: Telephone Monitoring, Securus

on the problem. Earlier this year, Securus received approval for a patent describing a method of “linking controlled-environment facility residents and associated non-resident telephone numbers to ... e ...

Mission Creep: Prison Telecoms Scramble to Extend Their Reach

Article • July 13, 2022 • from PLN July, 2022

Filed under: Telephone Rates, Global Tel*Link Corp

to use the telephone. Flat rate calling has long been the norm in the phone industry that does not rely on exploiting prisoners yet prison telecoms tell the public, regulators and legislators that charging ...

From the Editor

Article • July 13, 2022 • from PLN July, 2022

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Access, Censorship

From the Editor by Paul Wright by Paul Wright PLN has been reporting on the prison phone industry for at least the past 30 years, from its inception to its current stranglehold on most means of human contact between prisoners and the outside world. This month’s cover story by Alan …

Prison Phone Giant GTL Cuts Prices in Miami-Dade Jails, But Only After County Taps COVID-19 Relief Funds to Replace Forfeited Kickbacks

Article • June 1, 2022 • from PLN June, 2022

Filed under: COVID-19, Telephone Rates, Global Tel*Link Corp

of incarceration to those who were caged and their families, and prison telecom companies entered the scene. Levine Cava says the county is exploring options to provide free telephone calls to prisoners in its jails ...

Prison Telecom Giant GTL Agrees to $67 Million Settlement in Class-Action Over Inactive Account Seizure Policy

Article • April 1, 2022 • from PLN April, 2022

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

to ViaPath Technologies on January 4, 2022, provides telephone service to prisoners in almost 2,000 prisons and jails spanning all 50 states, holding a monopoly in most, just as its major competitors do. [See ...

$900,000 Settlement in Class Action Lawsuit Alleging Securus Recorded California Prisoner-Attorney Calls

Article • February 1, 2022 • from PLN February, 2022

Filed under: Settlements, Attorney Calls, Telephone Monitoring, Class Actions

$900,000 Settlement in Class Action Lawsuit Alleging Securus Recorded California Prisoner-Attorney Calls by David Reutter Company Walks From Similar Case in Maine by David M. Reutter ...

Qualified Immunity Granted in Suit Challenging Policy of “Checking-In” on Nevada Prisoner’s Legal Calls

Article • February 1, 2022 • from PLN February, 2022

Filed under: Attorney Calls, Electronic Communictions Privacy Act, Immunity - Absolute and Qualified

Qualified Immunity Granted in Suit Challenging Policy of “Checking-In” on Nevada Prisoner’s Legal Calls by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On July 8, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit refused a request to rehear en banc a decision by a three-judge panel of the Court …

Suit by HRDC Alleging GTL and Securus Violated Sherman Anti-Trust Act Survives Motion to Dismiss

Article • February 1, 2022 • from PLN February, 2022

Filed under: Telephone Rates, Antitrust Offenses, HRDC Litigation, Securus, Global Tel*Link Corp

) alleging a price-fixing and kickback scheme by prison telephone service providers Global Tel*Link Corp. (now known as ViaPath), Securus Technologies, LLC, and 3Cinteractive Corp. (3Ci), survived a motion ...

All Massachusetts Jails to Provide Prisoners Ten Free Minutes of Phone Calls Per Week and Cap Charges on Additional Minutes at 14 Cents

Article • November 1, 2021 • from PLN November, 2021

Filed under: Telephone Rates

by State Senator Cynthia Creem and Representative Chynah Tyler, which would require the provision of free telephone calls to people incarcerated in the state’s jails and prisons. In promoting the bill ...

Louisville Jail Moves to Have Free Phone Calls for Prisoners by First of the Year

Article • November 1, 2021 • from PLN November, 2021

Filed under: Telephone Rates

from telephone kickbacks for the year 2021. The city plans to use the better revenue forecasts and federal American Rescue Act funds” to cover half that revenue ($350,000) and take some pressure ...

California Slashes High Call Rates in Prisons and Jails

Article • October 1, 2021 • from PLN October, 2021

Filed under: Telephone Rates

California Slashes High Call Rates in Prisons and Jails by Chuck Sharman by Chuck Sharman On the heels of a May 2021 decision by federal regulators that sharply lowered rates prisoners and their loved ones pay for interstate calls, the California Public Utilities Commission (CAPUC) adopted a rule on August …

Tenth Circuit Rejects Government’s Appeal Over Recorded Attorney Calls and Visits at Private Prison in Leavenworth

Article • September 1, 2021 • from PLN September, 2021

Filed under: Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Attorney Client, Attorney Calls, Recordings

Tenth Circuit Rejects Government’s Appeal Over Recorded Attorney Calls and Visits at Private Prison in Leavenworth by Dale Chappell by Dale Chappell Over five years ago, federal prosecutors ...

FCC Takes Further Action on Prison and Jail Phone Rates

Article • September 1, 2021 • from PLN September, 2021

Filed under: Telephone Rates

FCC Takes Further Action on Prison and Jail Phone Rates by Chuck Sharman by Chuck Sharman A review of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) report and adopted order on rates for interstate inmate calling services (ICS), released May 24, 2021. When this rule takes effect—90days after its release—ICS interstate call …

HRDC Sues Illinois DOC Under FOIA, Again, for GTL Contract Details

Article • September 1, 2021 • from PLN September, 2021

Filed under: Telephone Rates, PLN Litigation, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

HRDC Sues Illinois DOC Under FOIA, Again, for GTL Contract Details by Chuck Sharman by Chuck Sharman On August 18, 2021, a lawsuit was filed in the circuit court for Cook County in Chicago, Illinois by the Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC), the publisher of Prison Legal News (PLN) and …