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Illinois Phone Suit Dismissed

Article • June 15, 2000 • from PLN June, 2000

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

Illinois Phone Suit Dismissed by In the August, 1999, issue of PLN we reported that a class action suit had been filed in federal court in Illinois challenging the extortionate phone rates charged to those who accept collect calls from prisoners. On March 23, 2000, federal district court judge William …

New Mexico Private and State Prison Phone Rates Challenged

Article • May 15, 2000 • from PLN May, 2000

Filed under: Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Esmor/CSC, GEO Group/Wackenhut, Cornell Corrections, Civil Procedure, State Law Claims, Telephone Rates, Contractor Liability

New Mexico Private and State Prison Phone Rates Challenged by Two separate state court class action lawsuits have challenged the excessive phone rates charged to people who accept collect calls from New Mexico state prisoners. The first lawsuit, Valdez v. Wackenhut Corrections Corporation, was filed on December 30, 1999, in …

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 ...

Washington v. Reno, KY, DOJ Report, Telephone Access in Prisons, 1999

Brief • 1999

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates

Washington v. Reno, KY, DOJ Report, Telephone Access in Prisons, 1999 Criminal Calls: Review of BOPs Management of Inmate Telephone Privileges Page 1 of 4 USDOJ/OIG Special Report CRIMINAL CALLS ...

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 ...

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 …

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 ...

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 ...

Reach Out and Bilk Someone

Article • March 15, 1997 • from PLN March, 1997

Filed under: Contractor Misconduct, DOC/BOP misconduct, Telephone Rates, Immunity/Liability, Contractor Liability

Reach Out and Bilk Someone by Florida DOC officials were found in 1995 to have fraudulently awarded a contract to North American Intelicom (NAI) to provide "inmate telephone services" to 35 ...

Kansas Prisoners Lose Welfare Fund Suit

Article • February 15, 1997 • from PLN February, 1997

Filed under: Crime/Demographics, Victims, Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Telephone Rates

Kansas Prisoners Lose Welfare Fund Suit by A federal district court in Kansas held that state prisoners were not entitled to injunctive relief regarding how money from the Inmate Benefit Fund (IBF) was spent by the DOC. Kansas state prisoners filed a class action suit challenging how the Kansas DOC …

ADA Requires Phones for Deaf

Article • February 15, 1997 • from PLN February, 1997

Filed under: Deaf Prisoners, Retaliation for Filing Grievances, Damages, Standing, Americans with Disabilities Act, Rehabilitation Act, Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates, Eleventh Amendment Immunity

ADA Requires Phones for Deaf by A federal district court in Michigan held that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. 12131 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794, requires state prison officials to provide prisoners and the people they call with Telecommunications Device for the …

BOP Phone Suit Settled

Article • September 15, 1996 • from PLN September, 1996

Filed under: Settlements, Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates

to inmates in the state correctional institution having the highest debit telephone rates as computed...." The settlement states that the BOP has no intention of raising its current debit rates. On the other ...

Florida Utilities Commission Refunds Phone Kickbacks

Article • September 15, 1996 • from PLN September, 1996

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

Florida Utilities Commission Refunds Phone Kickbacks by The June, 1996, issue of PLN reported that the contract to provide phone services to Florida state prisoners was awarded without competitive bidding in circumstances strongly suggesting corruption. Since 1987 Florida prisoners have been allowed to make collect calls to friends and families, …

Phone Activist Seeks Info

Article • September 15, 1996 • from PLN September, 1996

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

in her cell for the night, but calls were also made during daytime and nighttime cell counts. Although they were on my telephone bills, they were not (could not have been) placed by my friend nor received ...