Search | Prison Phone Justice

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 …

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 …

Call Recipient's Rights Not Violated in Phone Taping

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

Filed under: Criminal Prosecution, Telephones, Telephone Monitoring

that the prisoner used the telephone with awareness of the possible surveillance... When an inmate has repeatedly received notice that calls placed on prison telephones are subject to surveillance, the evidence ...

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 …

ADA Ruling for Deaf New York Prisoners

Article • December 15, 1996 • from PLN December, 1996

Filed under: Deaf Prisoners, Disabled Prisoners, Interpreters (Disciplinary Hearings), Civil Procedure, Injunctions, Declaratory Judgment, Americans with Disabilities Act, Rehabilitation Act, Telephone Access

devices for telephone and television and the absence of visual safety alarms violates both the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act;" the DOCS failed "to make reasonable accommodations to facilitate full ...

No Right to Unmonitored Prison Calls

Article • November 15, 1996 • from PLN November, 1996

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Monitoring

investigative or law enforcement officers to intercept communications in the course of their duties. "MDC is a law enforcement agency whose employees tape all outbound inmate telephone calls; interception ...

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 ...

Washington Legislation Passed

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

Filed under: Sex Offenders (Discrimination), Victims, Costs, Three Strikes, Telephones, Telephone Monitoring, Death Penalty, State Legislation

into law: HB 2195: This law modifies RCW 9.73.095 and allows for the electronic monitoring of all telephonic and non-telephonic conversations in prison living units, cells, rooms, dormitories and common ...

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 Court Access Suit Settled

Article • February 15, 1996 • from PLN February, 1996

Filed under: Transfers, Attorney Fee Awards, Prisoner Legal Assistance, Legal Materials, Law Library Access/Adequacy, Photocopies, Settlements, Telephones, Attorney Calls, Legal Mail

in their cell or other assigned area. Attorney Calls: Prison phones in Washington are recorded and monitored. To make what is purported to be an unrecorded call prisoners must submit a form requesting to make ...

Detainee States Claim for Retaliation and Med Needs

Article • December 15, 1995 • from PLN December, 1995

Filed under: Retaliation for Filing Grievances, Pain, Skeletal Injury, Strip Cells, Bedding, Attorney Client, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Restraints, Telephones, Telephone Access, Attorney Calls

on a detainee's telephone privileges that prevented him from contacting his attorney violate the Sixth Amendment right to counsel. Tucker v. Randall, 948 F.2d 388, 390-91 (7th Cir. 1991)." Murphy claimed that he ...

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 ...

9th Circuit Affirms Court Access Case

Article • June 15, 1995 • from PLN June, 1995

Filed under: Law Library Access/Adequacy, Photocopies, Injunctions, Interpreters, Telephones, Attorney Calls

9th Circuit Affirms Court Access Case by In a wide ranging ruling, a unanimous panel of the ninth circuit court of appeals affirmed most of a lower court ruling designed to ensure Arizona prisoners' right of access to the courts. In the May 1994 issue of PLN we reported Casey …