FCC stops defending caps on prison phone call rates

https://www.engadget.com/2017/02/06/fcc-stops-defending-caps-on-prison-phone-call-rates/

by electic • 9 years ago

13 3 9 years ago

tcj_phx• 9 years ago

It shouldn't be so expensive to maintain contact with those whose punishment is gratuitous.

I suppose I should call my republican congressman's office on this issue. I took note of this submission from 84 days ago, but hadn't put the advice into action yet:

How to Make Your Congressman Listen to You (attn.com) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12952116 / http://www.attn.com/stories/12768/former-congressional-staff...

equine2• 9 years ago

When I was in federal prison several years back it was 70 cents per minute to call. You were limited to 300 minutes per month. Working at my job in the prison full time paid 5.25$ per month. For those guys who were in for a long time and had zero money being sent in, they had to support themselves on the best possible jobs which paid up to .19 cents per hour.

I'm still heartbroken when I think about the guys who somehow saved up money on these wages and sent it out to their families.

The most gut wrenching thing about being in prison is the fact that the gaurds treat you like animals, and most all of them seem to derive a sick pleasure from it.

equine2• 9 years ago

Some other interesting things, calls were limited in length to 15 minutes. Calls were monitored in real-time and if you started talking dirty with your girl, you got disconnected and could potentially be written up and given more time. The gaurds also use whatever they hear in the calls to decide which cells to hit and search for contraband. Guys who are down for a long time never use the phones. You would have to work at least 4 hours or up to 3 days to afford one minute of conversation. That minute could be burned up with the phone ringing and waiting for the person to approve the phone call.

Phone conversations are recorded forever and easily accessible by pretty much any employee.

If you get in fights or get caught with contraband or try to escape you lose your good time and stay in longer. Due to new rules, there is no parole. Good time is 15%. Other new rules also allow them to extend your original sentence for some infractions such as having a cell phone. Before if you got caught with a cell phone it was a write up and go to the hole for 90 days (small confined room with no human contact, no window, no mail, no calls, no nothing). Now they add up to five years on to your sentence and put you in the hole for a year.

FCC stops defending caps on prison phone call rates

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