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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 ...

Prisoner Accounts Add Up to Millions

Article • July 15, 1996 • from PLN July, 1996

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

Prisoner Accounts Add Up to Millions by The U.S. prison population has tripled in the last fifteen years and now stands at well over a million. But the number of bodies is not the only statistic that has grown. According to the Newhouse News Service, 1995 saw record sums of …

Massachusetts Phone Injunction Affirmed

Article • July 15, 1996 • from PLN July, 1996

Filed under: Settlements, Injunctions, Contempt (Civil Procedure), Telephones, Telephone Rates, Telephone Monitoring

Massachusetts Phone Injunction Affirmed by The court of appeals for the first circuit affirmed a district court's contempt finding against prison officials concerning the monitoring and taping of prisoners' phone calls. In 1979 William Langton and David LeBlanc filed suit against Massachusetts prison officials over the interception and monitoring of …

Phone Graft in Florida

Article • June 15, 1996 • from PLN June, 1996

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

Phone Graft in Florida by Competing telephone companies submitted bids to provide "inmate phone services" to 35 Florida prisons. The contract was awarded to North American Intelecom (NAI ...

Nevada Utilities Commission Caps Prison Phone Rates

Article • June 15, 1996 • from PLN June, 1996

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

PSC approval was not needed due to telephone deregulation. The old rates (i.e., the legal rates) were 55 cents for an operator assisted call, which Sprint increased to $3 and then charged the regular ...

Washington v. Reno, KY, Settlement Agreement, Telephone Services in Prison, 1995

Brief • August 1, 1995

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates

Washington v. Reno, KY, Settlement Agreement, Telephone Services in Prison, 1995 Washington v. Reno United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, Lexington Division November 9 ...

NV Phone Rate Scalping Examined

Article • July 15, 1995 • from PLN July, 1995

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

will be taken. A proposed plan calls for caps on telephone rates charged to those who use phones in Nevada jails and prisons. Under the proposal, companies providing those phone services could charge no more ...

6th Cir. Rules on BOP Phone Suit PI

Article • March 15, 1995 • from PLN March, 1995

Filed under: Preliminary Injunctions/TRO's, Class Certification, Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates, Telephone Monitoring

that challenges numerous aspects of the Inmate Telephone System (ITS) in the process of being installed at federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) facilities across the country. Copies of the above issues of PLN are still ...

MA DOC Uses New Phone System

Article • November 15, 1994 • from PLN November, 1994

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates, Telephone Monitoring

MA DOC Uses New Phone System by Paul Wright By Paul Wright As part of the nationwide trend towards more restrictive and more expensive prison phone systems, the Massachusetts DOC signed a contract with NYNEX on January 27, 1994, for the provision of phone services to Massachusetts prisons. The new …

BOP Phone Litigation Update

Article • November 15, 1994 • from PLN November, 1994

Filed under: Preliminary Injunctions/TRO's, Class Certification, Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates

to the appeals court the BOP claimed that elected officials, members of the court and media could be listed on prisoner's ITS phone lists. The plaintiff's attorney called the BOP's briefs incorrect and misleading ...

Washington v. Reno, Sixth Circuit, Order, Telephone Access in Prison, 1994

Brief • September 26, 1994

Filed under: Discrimination, Preliminary Injunctions/TRO's, Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates

Washington v. Reno, Sixth Circuit, Order, Telephone Access in Prison, 1994 35 F.3d 1093 (1994) Conchita WASHINGTON; Sunday Torres; Gloria Batton Robinson; Antoinette M. Frink; Nita Young; Patricia M ...

Phone Company State Actor for Section 1983

Article • May 15, 1994 • from PLN May, 1994

Filed under: Civil Procedure, Standing, Telephone Rates, Qualified Immunity, Contractor Liability

Phone Company State Actor for Section 1983 by Milton Griffin-El is a Missouri state prisoner. He filed suit against MCI Telecommunications Corporation and state prison officials over the phone company's practice of announcing to persons called by prisoners that the calls originated from a prison. The court upheld MCI's practice …

AZ DOC Denies Court Access

Article • May 15, 1994 • from PLN May, 1994

Filed under: Hygiene Supplies, Attorney Client, Prisoner Legal Assistance, Law Library Access/Adequacy, Photocopies, Special Masters, Interpreters, Telephones, Telephone Rates, Attorney Calls

held that the ADOC also denied prisoners' confidential attorney calls. The lack of a central policy allows individual prisons to set arbitrary standards which permit the improper denial of calls ...

LA Prisoners Boycott Phones

Article • April 15, 1994 • from PLN April, 1994

Filed under: Contractor Misconduct, Organizing, Prison Rebellion, Telephone Rates

it's rates and reimburse customers who had been overcharged since June 8, 1993. The Louisiana Public Service Commission ordered business' providing prisoner telephone service to provide the same ...

Court Enjoins BOP Phone System

Article • March 15, 1994 • from PLN March, 1994

Filed under: Preliminary Injunctions/TRO's, Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Administrative Procedures Act (Federal), Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates, Telephone Monitoring, Federal Legislation

implementing its Inmate Telephone System (ITS). The case is Washington v. Reno, case number 93-217 and 93-290. Readers should note that so far this is an unpublished opinion that cannot be cited for precedent ...