Search | Prison Phone Justice

An AI Model from Securus Aims to Expand Phone Call Monitoring

Article • December 1, 2025 • from PLN December, 2025

Filed under: Databases, Telephone Rates, Telephone Monitoring, Electronic Surveillance, Securus

An AI Model from Securus Aims to Expand Phone Call Monitoring by In 2023, prison telecom company Securus Technologies began building AI tools using its expansive database of prisoners’ recorded phone calls. The idea was to create an AI model that could not only monitor live prison phone calls but …

FCC Issues Proposed Rule Permitting Cellphone Jammers in Prisons and Jails

Article • November 1, 2025 • from PLN November, 2025

Filed under: Statistics/Trends, Telephone Rates, Cell Phone Access, Federal Legislation, Police State-Surveillance

FCC Issues Proposed Rule Permitting Cellphone Jammers in Prisons and Jails by Chuck Sharman by Chuck Sharman The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted on September 30, 2025, to issue a Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to relax the current ban on using cellphone “jamming” technology in prisons and jails. …

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 …

Prolonged COVID-19 Visitation Restrictions Net Georgia Jails Over $1.5 Million in Telecom Kickbacks

Article • August 15, 2023 • from PLN August, 2023

Filed under: COVID-19, Cost of Prison Systems, Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Telephone Rates, Video Visitation

Prolonged COVID-19 Visitation Restrictions Net Georgia Jails Over $1.5 Million in Telecom Kickbacks by Jordan Arizmendi by Jordan Arizmendi According to a report by the Georgia Current on April 14, 2023, jails in several of the state’s coastal counties were still profiting by extending COVID-19 visitation bans, forcing detainees and …

Worth Rises: Paying for Jail - How County Jails Extract Wealth from New York Communities, 2019

Publication • December 1, 2019

Filed under: Cost of Prison Systems, Jail Specific, Bail Bonds, Freedom of Information Act, Telephone Rates, Family, First Amendment, rights

. Global Tel*Link Connect Network (n.d.). Retrieved from https://web.connectnetwork.com/. 20 Federal Communications Commission (2016). “Consumer Guide Inmate Telephone Service.” Retrieved from https ...

Prison Policy Initiative Issues Report on State of Prison Phone Justice

Article • May 3, 2019 • from PLN May, 2019

Filed under: Statistics/Trends, Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates, Attorney Calls

Prison Policy Initiative Issues Report on State of Prison Phone Justice by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke  On February 11, 2019, the non-profit Prison Policy Initiative (PPI) issued a report on the “State of Phone Justice,” noting progress on reducing state prison phone rates but fewer reforms in local jails, …

Arabella Advisors: Understanding and Confronting the Prison-Industrial Complex - An Overview for Philanthropists, 2018

Publication • October 11, 2018

Filed under: Private Prisons, Financing, Food/Commissary (Private Prisons), Prison Labor, Statistics/Trends, Totality of Conditions, Food, Transportation, Money/Property, Bail Bonds, Telephone Monitoring, Guards/Staff

national or multi-national insurance companies, including Tokio Marine America, Fairfax, Bankers, Endeavour, and others. 4. Telecommunications The vendors that supply telephone and video visitation services ...

The Prison Phone Industry Has Quietly Become Even More of a Duopoly

Article • July 1, 2018 • from PLN July, 2018

Filed under: Statistics/Trends, Telephone Rates

Securus’ telephone system at his jail to obtain location data on cell phone customers without a court order. Put another way, Securus’ platform can be abused by law enforcement officials to spy ...

Georgia Prison Contraband Investigation Nets 130 Arrests, Guilty Pleas

Article • November 7, 2017 • from PLN November, 2017

Filed under: Crime, War on Drugs, Telephones

Georgia Prison Contraband Investigation Nets 130 Arrests, Guilty Pleas by David Reutter by David M. Reutter About 130 people have been arrested following a joint two-year investigation by the FBI and the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDOC). Indictments for 75 of the arrestees were announced in September 2015; another 46 …

Profiting Off Mass Incarceration: Detroit Pistons Owner Buys Private Prison Phone Company

Article • October 10, 2017 • from PLN October, 2017

Filed under: Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, GEO Group/Wackenhut, Statistics/Trends, Telephone Rates

Profiting Off Mass Incarceration: Detroit Pistons Owner Buys Private Prison Phone Company by Brian Dolinar by Brian Dolinar, Truthout The election of Donald Trump has already given an economic boost to those profiting from mass incarceration. The stock prices of the two biggest private prison builders – CoreCivic (formerly Corrections …

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 …

al Qaida-Like Mobile Discussions & Potential Creative Uses, MI Bn OSINT Team, 2008

Publication • November 30, 2016

Filed under: Crime/Demographics, War on Terror, Telephones, Telephone Monitoring, Cell Phone Access

, OPS, TARGETING & EXPLOITATION 3 MOBILE PHONE SURVEILLANCE 4 VOICE CHANGERS FOR TERRORIST TELEPHONE CALLS? 5 POTENTIAL FOR TERRORIST USE OF TWITTER: A RED TEAMING PERSPECTIVE. 7 SAMPLE OF OTHER ...

Second Circuit Allows Muslim Prisoners’ Bivens Claims to Proceed

Article • April 1, 2016 • from PLN April, 2016

Filed under: Religious Discrimination, Strip Searches, War on Terror, Food, Eighth Amendment, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Restraints, Telephone Access

;; and not allowed to move around their unit or freely use the telephone and commissary, or access MDC handbooks “which explained how to file complaints about mistreatment.” Additionally, the Court ...

SEC Rejects CCA, GEO Group Shareholder Resolutions to Reduce Prison Phone Rates

Article • July 11, 2014 • from PLN July, 2014

Filed under: Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, GEO Group/Wackenhut, Advocacy, Prison Reform, Statistics/Trends, Telephone Rates

. [See: PLN, Jan. 2014, p.44]. Such kickbacks are typically based on a percentage of revenue generated from inmate telephone services (ITS) – revenue that is mostly paid by prisoners’ families ...

Lowering Recidivism through Family Communication

Article • April 15, 2014 • from PLN April, 2014

Filed under: Statistics/Trends, Rehabilitation/Recidivism, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates, Mail Regulations, Visiting

Lowering Recidivism through Family Communication by Alex Friedmann There are currently 2.2 million people held in prisons and jails in the United States,1 and an estimated 95% of prisoners currently in custody will one day be released. Based on 2012 data, around 637,400 people are released annually from state and …

FL DOC Crim. Investigation re Guards Furnishing Cell Phones to Prisoners IG's Office 2014

Publication • January 2, 2014

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Criminal Prosecution, Cell Phone Access

FL DOC Crim. Investigation re Guards Furnishing Cell Phones to Prisoners IG's Office 2014 Florida Department of Corrections Office of the Inspector General CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION Case# 13-14646 PLN.Supp.Disc.001947 FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL CASE SUMMARY REPORT Table of Contents h AUTHORITY 4 !h METHODOLOGY 4 JJI. …

Possession of Cell Phone Doesn’t Violate Nevada Escape Device Statute

Article • December 15, 2013 • from PLN December, 2013

Filed under: Crime/Demographics, Escapes, Cell Phone Access

Possession of Cell Phone Doesn’t Violate Nevada Escape Device Statute by The Nevada Supreme Court has held that a statute prohibiting prisoners from possessing escape devices does not encompass possession of a contraband cell phone. Pursuant to NRS 212.093(1), prisoners are prohibited from having “any key, picklock, bolt cutters, wire …

In Memory of Jon E. Yount (1938-2012)

Article • February 15, 2013 • from PLN February, 2013

Filed under: Eulogies, Voting, Crime/Demographics, Census, Parole, Telephone Rates, Suicides

.” In Yount v. T-Netix, Jon brought the prison system’s abusive telephone rates and billing practices before the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and won refunds in 2008. The Department of Corrections ...

GAO Report Examines Contraband Cell Phone Use in BOP Facilities

Article • December 15, 2012 • from PLN December, 2012

Filed under: Crime/Demographics, Statistics/Trends, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates, Cell Phone Access

time creates for alternative means of contact with friends and family, such as cell phones. If, in fact, the BOP’s goal in providing telephone services to prisoners is to “facilitate their contact ...

South Carolina Crime Stoppers Snitch Line Scammed

Article • March 15, 2012 • from PLN March, 2012

Filed under: Crime/Demographics, Crime, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates

South Carolina Crime Stoppers Snitch Line Scammed by Brandon Sample Most people are familiar with Crime Stoppers, the “snitch line” for individuals with information about crimes. Successful tips can result in benefits to the tipster – which can take the form of cash, leniency with a new case or a …