Search | Prison Phone Justice

Report Finds Criminal Justice System Financially Overburdens Prisoners and Their Families

Article • December 28, 2016

Filed under: Racial Discrimination, Prison Reform, Statistics/Trends, Cost of Prison Systems, Attorney Fees (PLRA), Filing Fees (PLRA), Rehabilitation/Recidivism, Release and Reentry, Indigent Defense, Filing Fees, Collateral consequences of prison, Bond Fees, Booking Fees, Commissary, Telephone Rates, Family, Racial Profiling

Report Finds Criminal Justice System Financially Overburdens Prisoners and Their Families by Christopher Zoukis The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, a nonprofit focused on racial and economic policy, in conjunction with Forward Together and a dozen other community and civil rights organizations recently released a study which surveyed hardships …

Photo of Prisoner Beaten by Georgia Gang Members Posted Online

Article • December 8, 2016 • from PLN December, 2016

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Retaliation for Media Contact, Retaliatory Transfers, Prison Gangs, Failure to Protect (General), Cell Phone Access, Photos, Media, Internet, Juveniles, Failure to Protect (Juveniles), Juvenile Prisons

Photo of Prisoner Beaten by Georgia Gang Members Posted Online by Prisons are designed to be closed institutions, cut off from the rest of the world. Contraband cell phones, however, are opening them up and exposing the reality of what happens behind the walls. When Demetria Harris saw a photo …

How Chicago Police Convinced Courts to Let Them Track Cellphones Without a Warrant

Article • November 22, 2016

Filed under: Police Misconduct, Police Searches, Telephones, Telephone Monitoring, Police, Arrest Warrants

in the form of a digital analyzer.” In identical footnotes in each case, a digital analyzer is depicted as nothing more than a simple antenna that detects “signals emitted by the target telephone ...

Video Visitation Companies Try to Stop In-Person Visitation at Texas Jails

Article • November 1, 2016

Filed under: Jail Specific, Rehabilitation/Recidivism, Privacy Act, Telephone Monitoring, Video Visitation, Family, Fathers in Prison, Mothers in Prison, Children of Prisoners

Video Visitation Companies Try to Stop In-Person Visitation at Texas Jails by Matthew Clarke In one of the latest attempts to squeeze money out of those least able to afford it, companies that specialize in providing phone and video visitation services to prisoners in Texas jails on a local monopolistic …

Wisconsin Jail Policies Unconstitutional But Not Enjoined

Article • November 1, 2016

Filed under: Jail Misconduct, Notice of Rules, Legality of Rules, Witnesses (Disciplinary Hearings), Hearing Officers, Notice of Charges, Notice of Hearing, Jail Specific, Telephones, Publications/Books, Mail Regulations, Due Process, Censorship

, and telephone procedures were unconstitutional. On January 17, 1973, the district court issued an opinion holding that all but the MCJ telephone policies were unconstitutional. First, the court found ...

NY: Prisoner's Abuse Claim Survives Motion to Dismiss

Article • October 31, 2016

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Eighth Amendment, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Settlements, Telephones, Failure to Train/Supervise, Mental Health, Denial of Religious Services

case, Smith sued because jail officials changed his telephone PIN number without notice. While that case was pending, Smith filed another case against Riker's Island alleging improper religious ...

Eighth Circuit Finds No Constitutional Right to Communicate in Chinese

Article • October 25, 2016

Filed under: Discrimination, Interpreters, Telephones, Mail, Mail Regulations, Due Process, Family

Eighth Circuit Finds No Constitutional Right to Communicate in Chinese by Lonnie Burton On August 15, 2016, the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a case filed by a Chinese-born Missouri state prisoner who had his mail to and from China repeatedly rejected by prison officials. …

Prison-Area Cell Phone Companies Not Liable for Attempted Hit on Guard

Article • October 14, 2016

Filed under: Failure to Protect (General), Telephones, Cell Phone Access, Contractor Liability

Prison-Area Cell Phone Companies Not Liable for Attempted Hit on Guard by Matthew Clarke In a March 25, 2015, opinion, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals held that cell phone service providers and owners of cell towers in the area around a South Carolina prison were not liable for the …

Alabama Public Service Commission Enacts Prison, Jail Phone Reforms

Article • October 3, 2016 • from PLN October, 2016

Filed under: Prison Reform, Jail Specific, Telephones, Telephone Rates

on the underlying telecommunications technology associated with any telephone number.” This article highlights only the major provisions of the PSC’s 105-page July 2014 order; the full text is available ...

Judge Orders End to Recording of Attorney-Client Meetings at CCA’s Leavenworth Detention Center

Article • October 3, 2016 • from PLN October, 2016

Filed under: Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Jail Misconduct, Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, Attorney Client, Telephone Monitoring

Judge Orders End to Recording of Attorney-Client Meetings at CCA’s Leavenworth Detention Center by Derek Gilna The Kansas Federal Public Defenders’ Office has challenged a scheme whereby officials at a detention center in Leavenworth, Kansas operated by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) secretly video-recorded confidential attorney-client meetings. As a result, …

No Way to Call Home: Incarcerated Deaf People Are Locked in a Prison Inside a Prison

Article • September 22, 2016

Filed under: Deaf Prisoners, Disabled Prisoners, Americans with Disabilities Act, Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates, Video Visitation, Family

for the receiver on the other end. For many in the deaf community, VRS is a part of everyday life, just like a landline telephone, but the service is not available at the Jefferson Parish Prison and most jails ...

Securus Settles Lawsuit Alleging Improper Recording of Privileged Prisoner Calls

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

Filed under: Attorney Client, Privacy Act, Telephones, Telephone Monitoring, Family

lawsuit within the hacked data. All of the calls contained within the database originated from prison facilities in Missouri, and the majority of the attorney calls were made to attorneys in Missouri ...

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 …

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 ...

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 …

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 …