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Albert v. GLOBAL TELLINK CORP, MD, Memorandum Opinion, Telephone Rates, 2025

Brief • October 15, 2025

Filed under: Misconduct/Corruption, Contractor Misconduct, Telephones, Telephone Rates, Antitrust Offenses, Bid-Rigging, Price-Fixing, etc., Kickback Scheme, Securus, Global Tel*Link Corp

Albert v. GLOBAL TELLINK CORP, MD, Memorandum Opinion, Telephone Rates, 2025 Case 8:20-cv-01936-LKG Document 487 Filed 10/15/25 Page 1 of 7 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT ...

Letter to FCC re Incarcerated People's Communication Services-09-15-2025

Publication • September 15, 2025

Filed under: Telephone Access, HRDC Sign on Letters, Prisoners' Rights, Global Tel*Link Corp

Letter to FCC re Incarcerated People's Communication Services-09-15-2025 September 15, 2025 Chairman Brendan Carr Commissioner Anna Gomez Commissioner Olivia Trusty Federal Communications Commission 50 L Street, NE Washington, DC 20554 Re: Incarcerated People’s Communications Services, WC Docket Nos. 23-62, 12-375 Dear Chairman Carr, Commissioners Gomez and Trusty: The ninety-five undersigned …

FCC Backtracks on 2024 Order to Cut  Prison Phone and Video Rates by Half

Article • August 1, 2025 • from PLN August, 2025

Filed under: Telephone Rates, Video Visitation, Private Phone Contractors, Securus

FCC Backtracks on 2024 Order to Cut Prison Phone and Video Rates by Half by On June 30, the Federal Communications Commission announced a two-year postponement of a rule to lower the price of phone and video calls in prisons and jails. As PLN reported, the FCC voted in 2024 …

HRDC Collaborates on Prison Telecom Cost Report  to Washington Lawmakers

Article • August 1, 2025 • from PLN August, 2025

Filed under: Electronic Tablets, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates

HRDC Collaborates on Prison Telecom Cost Report to Washington Lawmakers by Chuck Sharman A report on prison telecom costs presented to state lawmakers in Washington on December 13, 2024, showed dramatic decreases nationwide in the price of calls from prisons and jails over the past decade. A similar drop was …

Ohio Sued by Non-Profit Law Firm  for Opening Prisoner Legal Mail

Article • July 15, 2025 • from PLN July, 2025

Filed under: Attorney Client, Legal Materials, Attorney Calls, Legal Mail

Ohio Sued by Non-Profit Law Firm for Opening Prisoner Legal Mail by On May 6, 2025, the Ohio Justice and Policy Center, a non-profit law firm, filed a lawsuit against the state Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (DRC) over the practice of intercepting mail between prisoners and their attorneys. The …

Guards Used “Blast Grenades” to Break Up Mob Attack  in California Prison

Article • July 15, 2025 • from PLN July, 2025

Filed under: Failure to Protect (General), Pepper Spray/Tear Gas, Prisoner Privileges, Telephone Access

Guards Used “Blast Grenades” to Break Up Mob Attack in California Prison by On June 6, 2025, Julian Mendez, 46, a prisoner on death row at the Kern Valley State Prison in Riverside County, California, was killed by inmate Mario Renteria, 36, using a makeshift weapon, KGET in Bakersfield reported. …

JPay Loses Bid to Revoke Class Certification in Washington Prisoners’ Challenge to Crummy Products and Service

Article • July 15, 2025 • from PLN July, 2025

Filed under: Electronic Tablets, Computers, Telephone Rates, Securus

JPay Loses Bid to Revoke Class Certification in Washington Prisoners’ Challenge to Crummy Products and Service by Over five years ago, in May 2020, Washington prisoners Michael Linear and Lonnie Burton filed a complaint in state court against prison telecom JPay LLC, which held the exclusive contract with the state …

Free Calls in Massachusetts Lead to  Defunded Prison Programs

Article • July 15, 2025 • from PLN July, 2025

Filed under: Telephone Access, Telephone Rates, Private Phone Contractors

Free Calls in Massachusetts Lead to Defunded Prison Programs by In December 2023, Massachusetts became the fifth state to provide free phone calls in its prisons and the first in all local jails. Video calling and e-messaging were also made available at no cost [See: PLN, Mar. 2024, p. 15]. …

Albert v. Global Tellink Corp, MD, Memorandum Opinion and Order, Telephone Rates, 2025

Brief • June 13, 2025

Filed under: Misconduct/Corruption, Contractor Misconduct, Telephones, Telephone Rates, Antitrust Offenses, Bid-Rigging, Price-Fixing, etc., Kickback Scheme, Securus, Global Tel*Link Corp

Albert v. Global Tellink Corp, MD, Memorandum Opinion and Order, Telephone Rates, 2025 Case 8:20-cv-01936-LKG Document 439 Filed 06/13/25 Page 1 of 17 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT ...

GTL/ViaPath Ordered to Pay $3 Million for Violations  of Consumer Protection Laws

Article • June 1, 2025 • from PLN June, 2025

Filed under: Telephone Rates, Bid-Rigging, Price-Fixing, etc., Global Tel*Link Corp

GTL/ViaPath Ordered to Pay $3 Million for Violations of Consumer Protection Laws by Global Tel*Link (GTL), doing business as ViaPath Technologies, is one of the nation’s largest providers of carceral communications services, including phones, video calling, and e-messaging. Its subsidiaries include Telmate, LLC and TouchPay Holdings, LLC; the latter provides …

Smart Communications Files for Bankruptcy Protection

Article • June 1, 2025 • from PLN June, 2025

Filed under: Telephones, Mail, Legal Mail, Private Phone Contractors

Smart Communications Files for Bankruptcy Protection by Smart Communications Holding, Inc., provides a variety of communications services in prisons and jails nationwide, including phone calls, video calling, tablets and e-messaging. It’s best known for its mail scanning program, MailGuard, which digitizes correspondence sent to prisoners and provides the scans on …

A Song for Condemned Alabama Prisoner

Article • April 1, 2025 • from PLN April, 2025

Filed under: Witnesses, Telephone Monitoring, Evidence - Failure to Disclose

in their Sunday best/Hand to Bible they did confess/Condemned to reap what deceit had sown/In a deadly game of telephone.” Johnson waits at Holman Correctional Facility for a new trial or for Marshall ...

GTL, Co-Defendant Agree to $21.3 Million Settlement with HRDC in Price-Fixing Lawsuit

Article • April 1, 2025 • from PLN April, 2025

Filed under: Settlements, Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Telephone Rates, HRDC Litigation, Global Tel*Link Corp

GTL, Co-Defendant Agree to $21.3 Million Settlement with HRDC in Price-Fixing Lawsuit by On October 31, 2024, preliminary approval was granted to a settlement reached with the second of three prison telecom giants accused of illegal price-fixing. The suit was filed in June 2020 in United States District Court for …

Albert v. GLOBAL TELLINK CORP, MD, Memorandum Opinion and Order, Telephone Rates, 2025

Brief • April 1, 2025

Filed under: Misconduct/Corruption, Contractor Misconduct, Telephones, Telephone Rates, Antitrust Offenses, Bid-Rigging, Price-Fixing, etc., Kickback Scheme, Securus, Global Tel*Link Corp

Albert v. GLOBAL TELLINK CORP, MD, Memorandum Opinion and Order, Telephone Rates, 2025 Case 8:20-cv-01936-LKG Document 492 Filed 10/31/25 Page 1 of 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT ...

Pay-for-Play Tablets: The Costly New Prison Paradigm

Article • March 1, 2025 • from PLN March, 2025

Filed under: Food/Commissary (Private Prisons), Electronic Tablets, Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Telephone Rates, Tapes/Music, Securus, Global Tel*Link Corp

with their incarcerated loved ones? The NASPO master agreement specifies that phone calls made by prisoners (excluding attorney calls) shall be recorded and stored for the life of the contract, with call record details ...

Mayhem, Murder and Staff Misconduct at Brooklyn BOP Lockup

Article • March 1, 2025 • from PLN March, 2025

Filed under: Cell Searches, Drug Testing, Prison/Jail Murders, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Cell Phone Access, Searches - Cellphones/Computers/Internet

Mayhem, Murder and Staff Misconduct at Brooklyn BOP Lockup by The Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), a notorious federal jail in Brooklyn, New York, has made the news repeatedly thanks to some high-profile detainees held there to await trial. But federal prosecutors have also charged nine detainees for a series of …

20 South Carolina Prisoners Sentenced So Far for Deadly 2018 Riot

Article • February 15, 2025 • from PLN February, 2025

Filed under: Retaliation, Prison Rebellion, Prison Gangs, Staffing, Cell Phone Access

20 South Carolina Prisoners Sentenced So Far for Deadly 2018 Riot by Two South Carolina prisoners were sentenced on December 10, 2024, for their roles in a riot that killed seven fellow prisoners and injured 20 more. They were the most recent of 20 prisoners sentenced so far for convictions …

First Circuit Rejects Request by Securus and Pay Tel to Stay FCC Prison Phone Rate Caps

Article • January 15, 2025 • from PLN January, 2025

Filed under: Telephone Rates, Private Phone Contractors, Securus

First Circuit Rejects Request by Securus and Pay Tel to Stay FCC Prison Phone Rate Caps by On November 18, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued two orders denying motions filed by Securus Technologies, LLC, and Pay Tel Communications, Inc., seeking to stay implementation …

Securus/JPay Video Calling Service Potentially Threatened by New Rate Caps

Article • January 15, 2025 • from PLN January, 2025

Filed under: JPay, Inc., Telephone Rates, Video Visitation, Securus

Securus/JPay Video Calling Service Potentially Threatened by New Rate Caps by On November 19, 2024, prison telecom Securus Technologies, Inc., along with subsidiary JPay, notified users of services provided by the firms at prisons and jails of steps being taken to comply with a recent Federal Communications Commission (FCC) order. …

Eighth Circuit Asked to Block New FCC Rules Capping Prison Phone Rates and Eliminating Ancillary Fees and Kickbacks

Article • November 15, 2024 • from PLN November, 2024

Filed under: Telephone Rates, Federal Funds

Eighth Circuit Asked to Block New FCC Rules Capping Prison Phone Rates and Eliminating Ancillary Fees and Kickbacks by In a petition filed on September 30, 2024, the Republican Attorneys General of 14 states asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit to block new rate caps on …