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Family Connections Bill Signed into Law in Illinois

Article • September 2, 2016 • from PLN September, 2016

Filed under: Release and Reentry, Telephones, Telephone Rates, Family

Family Connections Bill Signed into Law in Illinois by Carrie Wilkinson Illinois Governor Bruce V. Rauner signed HB 6200, the Family Connections Bill, into law on August 22, 2016. Under the provisions of that legislation, domestic prison phone rates within the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) and Department of Juvenile …

Massachusetts Prisoners Involved in Reform Efforts Transferred, Held in Solitary

Article • September 2, 2016 • from PLN September, 2016

Filed under: Transfers, Retaliatory Transfers, Retaliation for Organizing, Retaliatory Segregation, Telephone Access, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement, Visiting

Massachusetts Prisoners Involved in Reform Efforts Transferred, Held in Solitary by Christopher Zoukis Three Massachusetts state prisoners have been placed in segregation in apparent retaliation for their prison reform activism. Timothy Muise, Shawn Fisher and Steven James, all incarcerated at the medium-security prison MCI Shirley, were taken from their cells …

The Fight for Comprehensive Prison Phone Reform Continues

Article • September 2, 2016 • from PLN September, 2016

Filed under: Money/Property, Telephones, Telephone Rates, PLN Litigation, Family, PLN related

The Fight for Comprehensive Prison Phone Reform Continues by Carrie Wilkinson As previously reported in PLN, the prison telecom industry has been successful so far in delaying implementation of the rate caps ordered by the FCC in October 2015. [See: PLN, May 2016, p.36; Dec. 2015, p.40]. And while the …

HRDC Letter to Fisch, American Securities, Re Global TelLink and Human Rights Watch, 2015

Publication • September 1, 2016

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates

it is committed to fulfilling “its responsibilities with the highest level of integrity and ethics,” we submit it is inherently unethical to gouge prisoners’ families through exorbitant telephone rates and monopoly ...

Supplemental HRDC Comment to the CFPB re Arbitration Agreements - Aug. 2016

Publication • August 26, 2016

Filed under: Money/Property, Telephones, HRDC Publications

, et al., 13 Civ. 4989 (WJM) (MF) Plaintiffs, vs. NOTICE OF MOTION TO COMPEL ARBITRATION GLOBAL TEL*LINK CORPORATION, INMATE TELEPHONE SERVICE and DSI-ITI LLC, ORAL ARGUMENT REQUESTED Defendants ...

Arkansas Federal Court Holds No First Amendment Right to Lower Prison Phone Rates

Article • August 25, 2016

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates, First Amendment

no First Amendment right to a specific telephone rate. Arkansas state prisoners Winston Holloway and Joseph Breault filed a civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in federal court alleging ...

Court Certifies Class-Action in Lawsuit Over Washington State Prison Phones

Article • August 23, 2016

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

to the failure of the prisoner telephone service in some Washington State prisons to provide rate information. Sandy Judd, Tara Herivel and Columbia Legal Services are class representatives for persons who ...

In Person and Video Visiting, Urbana Champaign Independent Media, 2016

Publication • August 23, 2016

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Access, Video Visitation, Family

In Person and Video Visiting, Urbana Champaign Independent Media, 2016 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 23, 2016 FOR MORE INFORMATION: Brian Dolinar, Program Director, Independent Media Center 217-621-5827, briandolinar@ucimc.org Michelle Jett, State Rep. Carol Ammons 217-531-1660, michelle@staterepcarolammons.com Urbana, IL - In-person contact visits are now legally guaranteed in Illinois prisons, setting …

Texas Legislature Authorizes Doubling of Prisoners' Monthly Phone Minutes

Article • August 22, 2016

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

Texas Legislature Authorizes Doubling of Prisoners' Monthly Phone Minutes by Matthew Clarke In 2007, when Texas became the last state in the union to allow prisoner phone calls, the limit on phone usage was 120 minutes a month. In 2009, the Texas Board of Criminal Justice (TBCJ) responded to requests …

HRDC comments to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau re Arbitration Agreements - Aug. 2016

Publication • August 22, 2016

Filed under: Money/Property, Trust Accounts, Telephones, HRDC Publications

that consumers must establish to receive telephone calls from loved ones in prison or jail, to place money on trust or commissary accounts used by prisoners to buy items within the facility and to release debit ...

Petitioners' Opposition to Securus Technologies' Request to be Removed from the Service List in DTC 11-16, Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts, 2016

Brief • August 19, 2016

Filed under: Telephones, Media

Petitioners' Opposition to Securus Technologies' Request to be Removed from the Service List in DTC 11-16, Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts, 2016

Oseguenda v. Stanislaus County Public Safety Center, CA, Complaint and Demand for Trial, Due Process, Pretrial Detainees. 2016

Brief • August 16, 2016

Filed under: Discrimination, Racial Discrimination, Conditions of Confinement, Totality of Conditions, Exercise, Education, Telephone Access, Mental Health, Fourth Amendment, rights, Fourteenth Amendment, rights, Fifth Amendment, Sixth Amendment

CONDEMNATION NOTE: LAND CONDEMNATIONCASES, CASES,USE USETHE THELOCATION LOCATION OF THE TRACT OF LAND !NVOL VED. INVOLVED. Name, Address, and (C) Attorneys (c) Attorneys (Firm Name, and Telephone Number ...

Sheriff Letter to Board of Supervisors re inmate telephone system, LASD, 2016

Publication • August 12, 2016

Filed under: Jail Specific, Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates

. FOR INMATE TELEPHONE SYSTEM (ITS) AND SERVICES Call services, excluding the Ancillary Service Charges and FCCpermissible Taxes and regulatory fees listed in Exhibit C (Telephone Rates and Payment Schedule ...

Los Angeles Sheriff's Office Settles Visitor Beating Case for $1 Million

Article • August 11, 2016

Filed under: Visitor Searches, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Pepper Spray/Tear Gas, Restraints, Cell Phone Access

Los Angeles Sheriff's Office Settles Visitor Beating Case for $1 Million by Derek Gilna Los Angeles County Jail deputies have a reputation for brutal treatment of prisoners, and have paid out millions of dollars in settlements as a result. However, even a man visiting his brother Robert at Men's Central …

Canada: Phone Access Vital for Incarcerated Mothers

Article • August 10, 2016

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates, Mothers in Prison, Children of Prisoners

Canada: Phone Access Vital for Incarcerated Mothers by The Elizabeth Fry Society of Saskatchewan hosted an event on May 11, 2016 that coincided with Mother’s Day to raise awareness about women impacted by the criminal justice system and to highlight the fact that most incarcerated women are mothers and were …

Texas Guards and Prisoners Rarely Prosecuted for Contraband Cellphones

Article • August 10, 2016

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Telephones, Cell Phone Access

Texas Guards and Prisoners Rarely Prosecuted for Contraband Cellphones by Matthew Clarke According to an investigation conducted by the Texas Tribune, guards and prisoners are rarely prosecuted for the contraband cell phones found within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). The investigation discovered that only 5% of the cellphone …

Guard’s Suspension for Dragging Injured Maine Pretrial Detainee Upheld

Article • August 10, 2016

Filed under: Telephones, Cell Phone Access

Guard’s Suspension for Dragging Injured Maine Pretrial Detainee Upheld by David Reutter Louisiana officials are resorting to unconventional tactics to combat the “international” problem of cellphones within its jails and prisons. Prisoner use of the contraband phones has become so widespread that rarely a day goes by that guards fail …

FCC Quashes Company's Blockage of Discounted Prisoner Call Plans

Article • August 10, 2016

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

incarcerated individuals from calling unauthorized numbers to prevent bypassing their significantly more expensive and monopolistic telephone network sold to correctional institutions in return for a share ...

Louisiana Prisoner Phone Charge Scandal Pushed to Closed Door Session

Article • August 10, 2016

Filed under: Contractor Misconduct, Telephones, Telephone Rates

placed surcharge fees on prisoner telephones behind closed doors. City Tele Coin serves about 30 parish and municipal jails around Louisiana. In 2006, the PSC refused to allow the company to add surcharge ...

In re Rates for Interstate Inmate Calling Services, DC, FCC Order on Reconsideration - Rate Caps, 2016

Brief • August 9, 2016

Filed under: Security Systems, Telephones, Telephone Monitoring

); Implementation of the Pay Telephone Reclassification and Compensation Provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Petition for Rulemaking or, in the Alternative, Petition to Address Referral Issues ...