Prison Legal News - Nation Inside
Prison Legal NewsVOL. 24 No. 12ISSN 1075-7678Dedicated to Protecting Human RightsDecember 2013FCC Order Heralds Hope for Reform of Prison Phone Industryby John E. Dannenberg and Alex Friedmann“After a long time – too long – the Commission takes action to finally address the highcost that prison inmates and their familiesmust pay for phone service. This is not just anissue of markets and rates; it is a broader issueof social justice.” – FCC Commissioner JessicaRosenworcelOn August 9, 2013, the FederalCommunications Commission (FCC),in a landmark decision, voted to cap the costof long distance rates for phone calls madeby prisoners and enact other reforms relatedto the prison phone industry. [See: PLN,Sept. 2013, p.42].The FCC’s 131-page final order wasreleased in September and published in theFederal Register on November 13, 2013. Ithas not yet gone into effect due to a 90-dayInsideFL DOC Phone Contract Fight24From the Editor26Habeas Hints28FCI Danbury Controversy32Telemedicine Behind Bars34BOP Solitary Confinement36Correctional Health Care Costs389th Circuit: Walkaway not Escape47Expungement in Minnesota48Iowa Eases Voting Restoration50Elder Abuse in Prisons52Extradition to U.S. Blocked54News in Brief56waiting period following publication in theRegister, plus legal challenges have sincebeen filed by the nation’s two largest prisonphone companies.The order, entered in response to apetition for rulemaking submitted to theFCC, is the result of a decade-long effortto lower prison phone rates and implementmuch-needed changes in the prison phoneindustry.Prison Phone Services: A PrimerThe billion-dollar prison phoneindustry is comprised of companies thatprovide phone services for prisoners anddetainees held in state, federal and privately-operated prisons, county and municipaljails, juvenile facilities, immigration detention centers and other correctional facilities.Such services are commonly referred to asInmate Calling Services (ICS).Five companies, known as ICS providers, dominate the prison phone market;Global Tel*Link (GTL), Securus Technologies, CenturyLink, Telmate andICSolutions provide phone services for 49of the 50 state Departments of Corrections.A number of other companies, such as PayTel, NCIC, Legacy and EagleTel, provideICS services primarily to jails.When prisoners make phone calls theytypically have three payment options – collect, prepaid or debit. Collect calls are paidby the call recipient, prepaid calls are paidfrom a pre-funded account established bythe call recipient and debit calls are fundedfrom a prisoner’s institutional debit account. Prisoners can usually call only asmall number of people on a specified list,and calls are frequently limited to 15 or 20minutes per call.There are three types of phone callswithin the telecommunications industry– local, intrastate and interstate. Localcalls are made to numbers within a local calling area, such as the same city orcounty. Intrastate calls are made within theboundaries of a state, either within a localaccess and transport area (LATA), called anintraLATA call, or across LATAs, knownas an interLATA call. Interstate (long distance) calls are made across state lines andare generally the most expensive.Prisoners’ family members and friendspay for the vast majority of ICS calls, either by accepting collect calls, establishingprepaid accounts or sending money to theirincarcerated loved ones to place on theirdebit phone accounts.ICS rates are much higher thannon-prison rates, in large part becauseprison phone companies pay “commission”kickbacks to the corrections agencies withwhich they contract. Such commissionsare usually based on a percentage of therevenue generated from prisoners’ calls andhave nothing to do with the actual cost ofproviding the phone service. Because ICSproviders factor commission payments –which currently average 47.79% for stateDepartments of Corrections (DOCs) – intothe phone rates they charge, the rates areartificially inflated. Absent commissionkickbacks, which are received by 42 stateDOCs, the rates could be considerablylower. ICS providers paid at least 123.3million to state prison systems in 2012.Phone calls are the primary form ofcommunication for prisoners who arehoused at facilities located far from theirfamilies and thus do not receive in-personvisits. Research has shown that prisonerswho maintain close connections with theirfamilies while incarcerated are less likely tocommit crimes and return to prison following their release.
Prison Legal Newsa publication of theHuman Rights Defense Centerwww.humanrightsdefensecenter.orgEDITORPaul WrightMANAGING EDITORAlex FriedmannCOLUMNISTSMichael Cohen, Kent Russell,Mumia Abu JamalCONTRIBUTING WRITERSMike Brodheim, Matthew Clarke,John Dannenberg, Derek Gilna,Gary Hunter, David Reutter, Mike Rigby,Brandon Sample, Mark Wilson,Joe Watson, Christopher Zoukisresearch associateMari Garciaadvertising directorSusan SchwartzkopfLAYOUTLansing ScottHRDC litigation projectLance Weber—General CounselMonique Roberts—Staff AttorneyRobert Jack—Staff AttorneyPLN is a monthly publication.A one year subscription is 30 for prisoners, 35 for individuals, and 90 for lawyers andinstitutions. Prisoner donations of less than 30 will be pro-rated at 3.00/issue. Do notsend less than 18.00 at a time. All foreignsubscriptions are 100 sent via airmail.PLN accepts Visa and Mastercard orders byphone. New subscribers please allow fourto six weeks for the delivery of your firstissue. Confirmation of receipt of donationscannot be made without an SASE. PLN isa section 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization. Donations are tax deductible. Sendcontributions to:Prison Legal NewsPO Box 1151Lake Worth, FL nlegalnews.orgPLN reports on legal cases and news storiesrelated to prisoner rights and prison conditions of confinement. PLN welcomes all newsclippings, legal summaries and leads onpeople to contact related to those issues.Article submissions should be sent to - TheEditor - at the above address. We cannotreturn submissions without an SASE. Checkour website or send an SASE for writerguidelines.Advertising offers are void where prohibited by law and constitutional detentionfacility rules.PLN is indexed by the Alternative Press Index,Criminal Justice Periodicals Index and theDepartment of Justice Index.Prison Legal NewsHope for Prison Phone Reform (cont.)Even prison phone companies acknowledge the fact that maintaining familyties has a beneficial effect on prisoners andresults in reduced recidivism. For example,according to GTL, “Studies and reportscontinue to support that recidivism can besignificantly reduced by regular connectionand communications between inmates,families and friends – [a] 13% reductionin felony reconviction and a 25% reductionin technical violations.” Telmate presidentKevin O’Neil agreed, saying, “The moreinmates connect with their friends andfamily members the less likely they are tobe rearrested after they’re released.”High prison phone rates, however,create a financial barrier to communicationbetween prisoners and their families due tothe costs associated with ICS calls.“These rates discourage communication between inmates and their families andlarger support networks, which negativelyimpact the millions of children with anincarcerated parent, contribute to the highrate of recidivism in our nation’s correctional facilities, and increase the costs of ourjustice system,” the FCC observed.As stated by the Human RightsDefense Center (HRDC), the parent organization of Prison Legal News, “Whenfamilies cannot pay the cost of phone callsfrom their incarcerated loved ones, thosesame families and their communities paya different kind of price: isolation, stress,decreased rehabilitation and increasedrecidivism rates. The costs are also literal;many families of people held in prisons,jails and immigration detention centers payhigh phone bills at the expense of groceries,medical bills and other necessities.”Notably, the FCC’s recent order establishes a rate cap of .25 per minute forcollect interstate calls and .21 per minutefor prepaid and debit interstate calls, whichequates to a cap of 3.75 for a 15-minutecollect call and 3.15 for a 15-minute debitor prepaid call. This is a significant reduction from the highest prison phone rates,which currently range up to 17.30 for a15-minute call (or more than 275 a monthfor a one-hour call once a week).PLN and HRDC played an active andinstrumental role in the FCC’s decision toreduce the costs of prison phone calls andimplement other reforms; exorbitant prison3phone rates have been a focus of HRDC,and PLN has reported on ICS-related issues since 1990.History Behind the FCC’s OrderThe high costs of prison phone callsand the practice of commission kickbackswere presented to the FCC in 2003, in theform of a petition for rulemaking filed byattorneys representing Martha Wright, aDistrict of Columbia resident, who filed alawsuit challenging the phone rates she hadto pay to stay in touch with her incarceratedgrandson. The federal court referred thematter to the FCC since that agency hasprimary jurisdiction over interstate phonerates. See: Wright v. Corrections Corporationof America, U.S.D.C. (D. DC), Case No.1:00-cv-00293-GK.An alternative petition for rulemaking,commonly known as the “Wright petition,”which requested a cap on prison phonerates, was filed with the FCC in 2007. See:In the Matter of Rates for Interstate InmateCalling Services, WC Docket No. 96-128.Little action was taken on the Wright petition for the next four years.In April 2011, following extensiveresearch initially funded by a small grantfrom the Funding Exchange, PLN published a damning exposé on the prisonphone industry that included detailedinformation on prison phone rates andcommission percentages and amounts,based on 2007-2008 data. PLN exposed theexorbitant rates that ICS providers charge,reporting that state DOCs received anaverage kickback of 41.9% of prison phonerevenue, that over 143 million in commission kickbacks had been paid in one yearalone under state DOC phone contractsand that eliminating ICS commissionsdemonstrably resulted in lower phone rates.[See: PLN, April 2011, p.1].As a result of the interest generatedby PLN’s report on the prison phone industry, which was filed with the FCCon the Wright petition’s docket, HRDCco-founded the national Campaign forPrison Phone Justice in conjunction withthe Center for Media Justice/Media Action Grassroots Network (MAG-Net) andWorking Narratives.The Campaign, which grew to include55 supporting organizations and thousandsof individual members, coordinated actionsto pressure the FCC to act on the Wrightpetition and reduce the cost of prison phoneDecember 2013
Hope for Prison Phone Reform (cont.)calls – such as letter-writing and emailcampaigns, plus a rally outside the Commission’s Washington, D.C. headquarters.Tens of thousands of people submittedcomments to the FCC or signed petitions,including over 1,700 prisoners and dozensof civil rights, faith-based, immigrationreform and prisoners’ rights organizations.[See: PLN, July 2013, p.34; Dec. 2012, p.44;Nov. 2012, p.20].In December 2012, under the direction of then-Acting Chairwoman MignonCorcoran SunFull Color Prison Yard MonthlyNews Entertainment Resources3 M on t h Sp e c i al Su b s c r ip t ion 5 or1 Book of FCSCOLOR NEW 16 PAGESExpanded full color formatwith exciting episodes ofthrilling novels and sexypics. Many how-to articles onwriting, art and health. Filledwith entertainment: puzzles,trivia, jokes, poetry. Submityour writing, art, poetry etc.See your submission, nameNew books onlyand contact info in print.No singlesSpecialsCandyonCaneSpecial 1/2 Year Subscription ( 10 or 2 Books FCS)Special Full Year Subscription ( 20 or 4 Books FCS)Payments to: Freebird PublishersBox 541– Dept. BK, North Dighton, MA 02764Email: Diane@FreebirdPublishers.comClyburn, the FCC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on the Wrightpetition (Docket No. 12-375). [See: PLN,Feb. 2013, p.46]. In response to the Notice,HRDC filed additional comments withthe FCC on March 25, 2013 that includedupdated data on state-by-state ICS ratesand commissions, plus specific recommendations for reforms.The FCC held a workshop on prisonphone-related issues on July 10, 2013,which included testimony f rom PLNmanaging editor Alex Friedmann as wellas Virginia state delegate Patrick Hopeand representatives from public utilitycommissions, prison phone companies andorganizations such as the Prison PolicyInitiative and National CURE. [See: PLN,Aug. 2013, p.26].Finally, in August 2013, nearly a decade after Martha Wright filed her initialpetition for rulemaking with the FCC,the Commission voted to cap the cost ofinterstate prison phone calls and instituteother reforms. The rate caps were very closeto those requested in the Wright petition,which had sought benchmark rates (caps)of .25 per minute for collect calls and .20per minute for debit and prepaid calls.The data provided by HRDC was soimportant to the FCC’s deliberations thatthe Commission’s final order referencedPLN or HRDC at least 46 times, includingreferences to PLN’s April 2011 report onthe prison phone industry.The FCC’s order is more than amechanical implementation of rate caps,however. In an unusual show of compassionfor the plight of those who have suffered asa result of price gouging by prison phonecompanies and the corrections agenciesthey contract with, two of the FCC Commissioners included personal remarks inthe order that amounted to a public apology for not having stemmed such abuseslong ago.The FCC-mandated cap on prisonphone rates threatens the profit margins ofICS providers. With existing contracts thatrequire prison phone companies to continuepaying commission kickbacks while theymust reduce their rates to comply with theFCC’s order, ICS providers face a financial dilemma unless they renegotiate theircontracts. Which should not be difficult, asmost contracts have provisions for amendments – particularly when there are changesin relevant statutes or regulations.The order does not threaten themonopolistic nature of the prison phoneindustry, though, because once a companywins a bid to provide ICS services it enjoysa monopoly during the contract term. Suchmonopolies discourage competition in theprison phone market and contribute tohigher rates. [See: PLN, Oct. 2012, p.20;Jan. 2007, p.1].Two prison phone companies, GTLand Securus, filed petitions for a stay ofthe FCC’s order until they could bringa legal challenge, then filed lawsuits infederal court seeking review of the orderin November 2013. In other words, theywant to continue price-gouging prisonersServingServing YouYou withwithExcellenceExcellence SinceSince 20092009We make it simple.You reach your loved ones by calling a local number.AnyAny timetime youyou referreferaa newnew customercustomerandand theythey signsign up,up, youyoubothboth getget 300300 freefree minutes!minutes!Some restrictions apply.Details upon request.December 2013That’s a lot cheaper than calling long distance. It’s that simple! We charge 2.50 per month for the number. For Calls to anywhere in the U.S., we charge you 5 per minute 7R 0H[LFR WR &DQDGD WR MXVW DERXW DQ\ZKHUH HOVH LQ WKH ZRUOG 1R &RQWUDFW 1R &UHGLW &KHFN 1R 6HWXS )HH 1R &DQFHOODWLRQ )HH 1R (DUO\ 7HUPLQDWLRQ )HH Cancel anytime; any money left on the account is refundedTell Your Folks to Sign Up at www.freedomline.netOr Mail: FreedomLinePO Box 7 - SCAConnersville, IN 473314Also see our long-runningClassified Ad in this and every issueFCC Reg. No. 0021217047Prison Legal News
and their families by postponing the FCCmandated reforms for as long as possiblewhile using revenue from prisoners’ phonecalls to subsidize the cost of their litigationin the interim.On a brighter note, one Californiacounty responded to the FCC’s orderby proposing to manage its own jail andjuvenile detention facility phone systems– simply dispensing with ICS providers asan unnecessary anachronism.An Updated Look at thePrison Phone IndustryPLN’s April 2011 exposé on the prisonphone industry included a chart with stateby-state ICS rates, commission percentagesand annual commission payments for stateDOCs. PLN focused on state prison systems due to the impracticality of obtainingsimilar data from the thousands of jails incities and counties across the U.S.The chart with state-by-state prisonphone data, included as an exhibit toHRDC’s comments submitted to the FCC,was the result of extensive research over atwo-year period. As it reflected data from2007-2008, however, HRDC continued tocollect updated information on prison phonerates as well as commission percentages andpayments, plus copies of state DOC phonecontracts – most of which have been postedon HRDC’s Prison Phone Justice website,www.prisonphonejustice.org.The updated prison phone data ispresented in four charts included withthis cover story: Chart A (interstate rates),Chart B (intrastate interLATA rates), ChartC (local rates) and Chart D (commissionkickback percentages and amounts).lect, prepaid and debit calls. New Mexicocharges a flat .65 for collect and debitcalls, plus a flat .59 for prepaid calls. NewYork charges .048 per minute for all typesof calls, or .72 for a 15-minute call. Therates in South Carolina include a flat .99for a collect call and flat .75 for prepaidand debit calls.Currently, the average rates for 15minute interstate ICS calls are 7.18 forcollect, 6.05 for prepaid and 5.56 fordebit calls.Interstate RatesIntrastate RatesAlabama, Alaska, Georgia and Minnesotacharge the highest collect interstate rates forprison phone calls, at 17.30 for a 15-minutecall. Other states with exceptionally highinterstate rates include Ohio, which charges 16.97 for a collect 15-minute call, and Idaho,which charges 16.55. [See Chart A].Based on a 15-minute interstate ICScall, 13 states charge over 10.00 for collect calls, 8 charge more than 10.00 forprepaid calls and 7 charge over 10.00 fora debit call.In terms of the lowest interstate rates,three states charge less than 1.00 for col-For intrastate interLATA rates, based ona 15-minute prison phone call, 11 statescurrently charge over 5.00 for collect calls,7 charge more than 5.00 for a prepaid calland 5 charge over 5.00 for debit calls. [SeeChart B].The highest intrastate ICS rates are inDelaware, which charges 10.70 for 15minute calls of all types under a contractwith GTL. Other high rates include 8.40for a 15-minute collect call in South Dakota, 6.75 for collect, debit and prepaidcalls in Alabama, and 6.45 for a collectcall in Minnesota.APRILOctober20132013, California:FRESNO,CALIFORNIA 90,000 settlementwith CDCR and-CONFIDENTIALSETTLEMENTLA SheriffWITHCDCR settlement with CDCR Confidential- 540,000SETTLEMENT 600,000 injuryrecovery FOR A CALIFORNIACLIENT 150,000 badfaith settlement-2PROP 36CLIENTSRELEASED Federalactiondismissedwithoutagency THROUGH-2 penaltyLIFERS byRELEASED Paroledates granted by CIVIL RIGHTS-SECTION 1983-FEDERAL AND STATEAPPEALS AND WRITS- ONLY COMPLEX AND UNIQUE ATION-HOUSINGPROP. 36 RE-SENTENCING-3 STRIKES-MEDICAL-PAROLE HEARINGS----------------OUR CLIENTS GO HOME, HOW ABOUT YOU? ----------------Please submit a single page summary of your case. Due to the volume, wecannot return documents or respond to all inquires. We are not a low cost orpro bono law firm, but if you want results, contact us.Prison Legal News5POBox25001P.O.BOXFresno,25001CA93729FRESNO, CA93729December 2013
Hope for Prison Phone Reform (cont.)Four states charge less than 1.00 fora 15-minute intrastate call for all types ofcalls: New Mexico (flat .65 for collect anddebit calls, and flat .59 for prepaid); RhodeIsland (flat .70 for collect and prepaid,and flat .63 for debit calls); New York( .72 for all types of calls based on a rateof .048 per minute); and South Carolina(flat .99 for collect and flat .75 for debitand prepaid calls).The current average rates for 15minute intrastate interLATA prison phonecalls are 3.90 for collect, 3.41 for prepaidand 3.42 for debit calls.Local RatesTwelve states provide local ICS calls for 1.00 or less for all types of calls, based ona 15-minute call; however, another 9 statescharge more than 3.00 for a 15-minutelocal call for all categories of calls. Alaskais the only state that offers free local calls.[See Chart C].Other than Alaska, the lowest localICS rates include a flat .50 in Florida forall calls; a flat .50 for collect and prepaidcalls in North Dakota plus .05 per minutefor debit calls ( .75 for a 15-minute call);a flat .66 for collect, .59 for prepaid and .65 for debit calls in New Mexico; a flat .70 for collect and prepaid calls and .63for debit calls in Rhode Island; a flat .70for collect calls and .50 for prepaid anddebit calls in Nebraska; .048 per minutefor all types of calls in New York; and a flat .65 for collect calls and .50 for prepaidand debit calls in Maryland.The highest rates for 15-minute localcalls are 5.70 for all categories of calls inMississippi; 5.30 for collect and prepaidcalls and 4.50 for debit calls in Maine; 5.00 for collect calls in Colorado; and 4.95 for all types of local calls in NewJersey.Average rates for 15-minute local ICScalls are currently 2.30 for collect, 2.08for prepaid and 1.98 for debit calls.Commission KickbacksThe vast majority of state DOCs receivecommission kickbacks from their ICS providers, usually in the form of a percentageof revenue generated from prisoners’ phonecalls. Based on full or partial commissiondata from 49 states, prison phone companies paid at least 123.3 million in ICSkickbacks to DOCs in 2012. [See Chart D].Notably, this doesn’t include commissionsgenerated from phone services at federalprisons, jails, privately-operated prisons,juvenile facilities, immigration detentioncenters and other correctional facilities.Current state DOC commission ratesrange from a low of 7% in Alaska to ahigh of 76% in Illinois (though Marylandreceives an 87% commission on collect ICScalls while Maine gets a 100% kickback ondebit calls). The average commission ratefor states that have a percentage-of-revenuecommission is 47.79%, based on 2012-2013data. (For states that receive commissionswithin a range of percentages, the lowestrate in the range was used when calculatingthe average).Some states, including Ohio, Oregon and New Hampshire, receive a flatcommission amount; Oregon receives anadditional commission percentage basedon the amount of prison phone revenue.Oklahoma receives a payment of 2.30 foreach ICS call, which equates to a 76.6%commission based on the state’s current flatrate of 3.00 per call.Alabama uses a per-diem rate, inwhich the state’s prison phone provider,CenturyLink, pays .572 times the averageprisoner population, per month. Idaho has ahybrid model consisting of flat commissionamounts for collect, prepaid and debit callsmade from prisons, plus 20% of revenue forcalls made from Community Work Centers.The commission rate for the Alaska DOCis based on a sliding scale according to theamount of revenue generated by prisonphone calls during the preceding year, whileKansas, Washington and several other statesreceive a percentage commission with aminimum annual guaranteed payment.Iowa is unique in that it provides ICSservices through a government agency, theIowa Communications Network (ICN),in conjunction with a private contractor,Public Communications Services (PCS)– a subsidiary of Global Tel*Link. Ratherthan receiving a traditional commission,the state retains all revenue generated fromprison phone calls after paying ICN andPSC/GTL’s costs for providing the phoneservice.Beyond commission payments, somestates receive other perks from prisonExperienced Civil Rights Attorney dedicated to seekingjustice for those who are incarceratedLaw Offices of Elmer Robert Keach, III, PC1040 Riverfront CenterP. O. Box 70Amsterdam, NY 12010518.434.1718www.keachlawfirm.comAttorney Bob KeachNITA Master AdvocateMember, Multi-Million Dollar Advocates ForumOutside Counsel, Prison Legal NewsNational PracticeDecember 2013Custodial Death Cases Wrongful Arrest and IncarcerationMedical Indifference Cases Corrections and Police BrutalitySexual Abuse and Assault Illegal Strip SearchesClass Actions First Amendment Litigation (Northeast Only)Reasonable Hourly Rates for: Criminal Defense, Appeals,Post-Conviction Relief, Habeas CorpusWHEN YOU OR A LOVED ONE HAVE BEEN WRONGED,YOU HAVE A VOICE.Attorney Keach prefers all inquiries by mail to be typed, and limited to five pages.DO NOT SEND ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS OR ORIGINAL MEDICAL RECORDS.Make sure to exhaust your administrative remedies and comply with state law noticerequirements, if applicable, to preserve state law intentional tort/negligence claims.6Prison Legal News
phone companies. For example, under itscontract with the California Department ofCorrections and Rehabilitation, GTL provides cell phone blocking technology at allCalifornia state prisons. (Not incidentally,by limiting access to contraband cell phonesthe company anticipates greater use of, andthus greater revenue from, the prison phonesystem). GTL also pays an 800,000 annualfee to the California Technology Agency.[See: PLN, Oct. 2013, p.40].In Virginia, in addition to a 35% commission, GTL pays the state a minimum 150,000 annual fee for “DOC technologyinitiatives,” and the fee increases if GTLreceives annual prison phone revenue thatexceeds 13 million.Eight states have banned ICS commission kickbacks, mostly through legislation:California, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska,New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island andSouth Carolina.Unsurprisingly, since prison phonecompanies don’t have to recoup commissionpayments from the phone rates charged innon-commission states, those states havesome of the lowest ICS rates in the nation.For instance, of the 10 lowest interstateprison phone rates for collect, prepaid anddebit calls, 5 are in states that have bannedcommissions. Of the 10 lowest intrastaterates, 6 are in states that do not accept commissions, while of the 10 lowest local rates, 4are in states that prohibit commissions.In its comments submitted to the FCC,HRDC cited several examples of states thathave banned commissions and achievedmuch lower prison phone rates as a result.Prior to banning commissions in 2001, NewMexico charged 10.50 for a 15-minutecollect interstate call. The state’s current ratefor the same type of call is .65 – a 93.8%decrease. After South Carolina bannedprison phone commissions in April 2008,the cost of a 15-minute collect interstatecall dropped from 5.19 to .99, a reduction of 80.9%. And in New York, whichprohibited commissions in 2008, the costof a 15-minute prison phone call fell from 2.30 to .72 – a 68.6% decrease (previously, the New York DOC received a 57.5%commission that generated annual kickbackpayments of about 20 million).As the FCC noted in its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the Wright petition,“under most contracts, the commission isthe single largest component affecting therates for inmate calling service.” Or as statedPrison Legal Newsby HRDC, “Absent having to pay commissions to contracting government agencies,ICS providers could offer significantlylower phone rates.”Prison Phone CompaniesThree companies dominate the prisonphone industry: Global Tel*Link, whichhas DOC contracts in 30 states; SecurusTechnologies, which provides DOC phoneservices in 10 states; and CenturyLink,which contracts with DOCs in 5 states.These companies and their subsidiariesStay Connected withthus control 90% of the state DOC phonemarket. Other companies with DOCphone contracts include Hawaiian Telcom(Hawaii), Telmate (Missouri and Oregon),and ICSolutions (New Hampshire andWyoming). The nation’s largest prison phoneservice provider, GTL, was purchased byAmerican Securities, LLC in October 2011in a deal reportedly valued at 1 billion.American Securities, a private equity firm,owns 18 other companies in addition toGTL – such as the restaurant chain PotbellymyJailbird.comTell your friends and family to go to www.myjailbird.comto create a FREE support community just for you!MESSAGE WALLFamily and friends post updates,reminders and news to keepeveryone involved.PROFILEDisplays inmate name,ID and exact contactinformation to makecommunication easyfor everyone.PRIVATE,CONFIDENTIALPROFILEPages are secure andprivate to sponsorsand invited friendsonly. Nothing is visibleto the general public.COMMUNICATIONCENTERFamily and friendscan easily sendgreeting cards,custom photo cards,wire money, getlow-cost phoneservice or orderbooks and magazinesfor an inmate.My Jailbird is a free, confidential,support page that makes it easy forfamily and friends to stay connectedto you during your incarceration.r *U JT OPU B QFO QBM TFSWJDF r 8F EP OPU TFMM BOZUIJOH EJSFDUMZ UP JONBUFT r /P NPOUIMZ GFFT Call or write your family and friends andask them to go to www.myjailbird.comto TJHO VQ UPEBZ 7MJB-030-DA Half Page PLN Ad.indd 151 Harvey Road, Unit CLondonderry, NH 03053www.myjailbird.com8/1/12 12:22PMDecember2013
Hope for Prison Phone Reform (cont.)Sandwich Works. Previously, GTL wasowned by Veritas Capital and GS Direct,the latter being a subsidiary of Goldman,Sachs & Co. [See: PLN, Feb. 2012, p.23].GTL operates several subsidiary ICScompanies which include Value AddedCommunications (VAC), Public Communications Services (PCS), ConversantTechnologies and DSI-ITI. Securus Technologies was formedthrough a merger of T-Netix and EvercomSystems in 2004. The company was acquiredby Castle Harlan, Inc., a New York-basedprivate equity corporation, on May 31,2011; the sale was valued at 440-450 million. Castle Harlan owns 4 other companiesin addition to Securus, including CaribbeanRestaurants,
Inmate Calling Services (ICS). Five companies, known as ICS pro-viders, dominate the prison phone market; Global Tel*Link (GTL), Securus Tech-nologies, CenturyLink, Telmate and ICSolutions provide phone services for 49 of the 50 state Departments of Corrections. A number of other companies, such as Pay-Tel, NCIC, Legacy and EagleTel, provide
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The prison population stood at 78,180 on 31 December 2020. The sentenced prison population stood at 65,171 (83% of the prison population); the remand prison population stood at 12,066 (15%) and the non-criminal prison population stood at 943 (1%). Figure 1: Prison population, December 2000 to 2020 (Source: Table 1.1) Remand prison population
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prison. By 2004, people convicted on federal drug offenses were expected to serve almost three times that length: 62 months in prison. At the federal level, people incarcerated on a drug conviction make up nearly half the prison population. At the state level, the number of people in prison for drug offenses has increased nine-
Prison level performance is monitored and measured using the Prison Performance Tool. The PPT uses a data-driven assessment of performance in each prison to derive overall prison performance ratings. As in previous years, data-driven ratings were ratified and subject to in depth scrutiny at the moderation process which took place in June 2020.
18 3. Cross-platform news consumption 23 4. News consumption via television 29 5. News consumption via radio 32 6. News consumption via newspapers 39 7. News consumption via social media 52 8. News consumption via websites or apps 61 9. News consumption via magazines 64 10. Multi-sourcing 68 11. Importance of sources and attitudes towards news .
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