Washington State Prison phone rates and kickbacks

Washington ranks 26th in the nation for the affordability of a 15 minute call.

Kickbacks paid

$3,856,229.00 paid in 2017.

Percentage of call cost going to kickbacks: 56%

Cost of a 15-minute Intrastate Call

	Collect	Prepaid	Debit
Same state	$1.65	$1.65	$1.65
Local	$1.65	$1.65	$1.65

Detailed rates

	Collect	Prepaid	Debit
Same state	0.11/min	0.11/min	0.11/min
Local	0.11/min	0.11/min	0.11/min

Phone service providers

VAC (GTL)

Notes

Data current as of Jan 2019

Data current as of 2017-2018

Historical Data for Washington

Primary source documents

State DOC Rates

State DOC Contracts

State DOC Commission Data

County Rates

County Contracts

Court Rulings

Legislation

Kittitas County, WA Resolution Governing Distribution of Telephone Revenues

Administrative Rulings

Prison Phone Justice Articles and Documents

2019

October: HRDC joins application to file amicus brief in re county inmate telephone services case in CA, HRDC files joint amicus brief

April: HRDC press release on Securus/ICSolutions merger

2017

August: HRDC accuses FCC chairman of having conflict of interest

2016

April: PLN criticizes non-disclosure of Securus employee at FCC hearing on cell phones

January: HRDC's FCC comment mentioned regarding price gouging prisoners' families, Comment regarding prison reforms, HRDC's letter to the FCC mentioned regarding VA DOC's phone rate reduction

2015

October: FCC reforms applauded by HRDC's Campaign for Prison Phone Justice, HRDC's FCC comment on corruption in prison phone industry profiled

January: HRDC's FCC comments mentioned in article on video visitation

2014

November: PLN mentioned in article about FCC action on prison phone rates

October: FCC Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

September: HRDC comment to FCC regarding WA phone rates, FCC Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

January: HRDC response to PayTel comments, HRDC response to FCC caps on prison phone calls

2013:

December: Prison Legal News cover story on the prison phone industry, HRDC comment to FCC on Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

September: PLN/HRDC mentioned in article on FCC prison phone order

April: HRDC reply comment to FCC on Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

March: HRDC comment to FCC on Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

January: PLN's research on prison phone rates cited in article on FCC hearing

2012

December: FCC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

October: HRDC response to Global Tel comments

2011

April: Prison Legal News cover story on the prison phone industry

2007

ApriL: HRDC initial comment to FCC

PLN Coverage of Prison Phone Justice

Securus Technologies Rebrands as Aventiv

Loaded on Jan. 9, 2020 by Kevin Bliss published in Prison Legal News January, 2020, page 48

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates. Location: United States of America.

by Kevin Bliss

On October 8, 2019, a corporate reorganization listed Aventiv Technologies as the parent company of Securus Technologies, Inc., JPay and AllPaid (formerly known as GovPayNet). Securus has a long history of providing prison and jail phone services, and price gouging prisoners and their families with high rates. ...

Lawsuit Proceeds Over Conditions at Orange County, California Jail

Loaded on Dec. 9, 2019 by Edward Lyon published in Prison Legal News December, 2019, page 20

Filed under: Telephones, Attorney Calls, Telephone Monitoring. Location: California.

by Ed Lyon

A federal civil rights lawsuit filed in April 2019 against Orange County, California Sheriff Don Barnes was granted class-action status in September 2019 to include all detainees at the Orange County Jail (OCJ) whose telephone conversations with their attorneys were illegally recorded by GTL, the jail’s phone ...

Alaska Supreme Court Upholds Prisoner Visitation Denial

Loaded on Nov. 25, 2019 by Edward Lyon

Filed under: Misconduct/Corruption, Telephones. Locations: Alaska, United States of America.

by Ed Lyon

Alaska prisoner Keilan Ebli met substance abuse counselor Kerri Pittman at the Goose Creek Correctional Center (GCCC). According to evidence gathered by GCCC staff and investigators, Ebli and Pittman entered into a personal relationship, which is prohibited by prison rules.

Photos of the two “kissing” and “displaying ...

New York: Prisoners Have No Expectation to Privacy During Jail Phone Calls

Loaded on Nov. 5, 2019 by Chad Marks published in Prison Legal News November, 2019, page 35

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Monitoring. Location: New York.

by Chad Marks

In 2012, Emmanuel Diaz found himself in the custody of the New York City Department of Correction (DOC). While housed at the Rikers Island jail complex on multiple counts of burglary and robbery, he made nearly 1,100 phone calls. During some of the calls he made incriminating ...