August 2016 – Incarceration Report

The FCC Attempts To Stop Excessive Charges To Inmate Phone Calls

I am following the recent stories on Mythreecents.com of the overcharging in the prison phone system. While I personally have never been in prison, I have had family members that have been. I remember getting those notorious collect calls that cost an arm and a leg to pay for. My calls were received more than 20 years ago. Today, calls can cost up to $1 per minute. What does this do to the 2.7 million children in this country whose parents are behind bars?
When a parent goes to prison, it is like a divorce from their family. Many prisoners are incarcerated hours from their home. This means that the only form of communication they have is by telephone. Global Tel*Link and the FCC have been battling it out over the absorbent costs of making a phone call. Some state that this company is profiting off of love, and I tend to agree. Watch this YouTube video for more details.

With the prices being so high, communication between the inmates and their families is reduced to a minimum. The argument is that a prison is a harsh place and they make it tough so people won’t come back. I just have to ask one question, what about the children? The children are innocent in all of this. Growing up without a mother or father is hard enough, but why should they be punished ever more so? The problem is that Global Tel-Link has the monopoly on prison phone communications. They are currently under investigation for overcharging and other questionable practices.

Families are fighting back GTL for the right to talk to their loved ones, without sacrificing basic needs. These families have already lost one income, charging them so much to talk to their loved one is just wrong. It is just a phone call. Sure, they need to monitor and record conversations, but at the end of the day, it is a normal phone call. Making a phone call costs them pennies. Why do they feel the need to make commissions and make money at the cost of others?

I Check In Back Home With Keefe Group

I am the guy that moved across the country to get out of my old community, and when I did that I let some people behind. Some of these people are in jail, but I want to check on them as best as I can. I am not going to move back home just because of how it looks right now, but I am going to use Keefe Group to call the jails to check on these people that I know. The first time I had a thought of calling I had no idea how to do it, and then I realized that I would be able to use the company to get the help that I needed no matter when it was.
They have an account set up for me that works great, and I use it to call three different people that know from way back. I think I will be able to get one of these a job out here after he gets out, and the other two are giving me information to give to their families. I feel like I am really helping because I am involved in showing them what to do after they get out instead of just wondering what is going to happen to them.

I have been calling with Keefe Group for a while now, and it really helps because I do not have to worry about anything other than making sure that I am helping people I was close to. I do not want to just leave them there, but I have to have a Keefe Group account if I want to talk to them. I have been able to get a lot of help to these old friends and their families just with the phone calls I am allowed to make.

For more information on Keefe Group, visit corrections.com and Prisoncensorship.info.

Reference link: http://www.cdispatch.com/news/article.asp?aid=39055

IC Solutions Contracted To Introduce Video Communication In Sangamon County Jail

There are obviously plenty of complaints about IC Solutions from many people mainly due to its primary services of cell phones and digital lines. The company prefers the Pre-Pay method where callers are billed to the phone bill. The processing fee charged by IC Solutions in Hillsborough is $8.95 and each facility offered by IC Solutions has a processing fee.

IC Solutions has even bigger problems from the fact that it does not refund the money for the dropped calls even if you phone is a cell phone. IC Solutions is a middle-man company which after purchasing your local number, you will also have to pay for the account directly at the inmate facility. Some customers have claimed to be charged $35 for activation of their account numbers, and a separate charge is posted to the account at the same time.

According to an SJR article, one customer who claims to have inquired about the cost was told that the company had no information about it. The most shocking were that they even denied having registered the number including the fact that the charge was confidential. Some customers have already learned that IC Solutions aren’t the ones who set the numbers. Their agents offer little help to the customers as long as you keep cussing to a minimum. When you are looking to put money into your account, this is the time they give the utmost help because they know they need it.

The Sangamon County Jail inmates could benefit from a new program to increase visits from family and friends via video screen. It will be a huge relief from the current situation where inmates and visitors can only see or communicate with each other through telephone and the thick windows. The contractor IC Solutions is expected to maintain the charges at a flat rate of 22 cents which is fair compared to the previous telephone billing which consisted hidden costs. For more info, refer to pissedconsumer.com.

Visit the website: https://www.icsolutions.com/

Class Action Lawsuit And Investigation Against Global Tel-Link

Reports and complaints against Global Tel-Link has led to investigations on the company and its practice. According to PR News, there have been plenty of complaints issued by people who are related to the inmates that they are trying to keep in touch with. Among the complaints that are issued are high costs. For one thing, the billing practices are believed to be unfair to the people who are trying to keep in touch with their imprisoned friends or relatives. There are many people who are very unhappy with their experience of using Global Tel-Link in order to keep in touch with their inmates.
According to the NY Times Global Tel-Link charges a lot of hidden fees to go along with the charge for their services. As a result, the users of the service wind up having to pay a large amount of money in order to get in contact with their imprisoned loved ones. When the inmates use their phone service, these charges wind up being billed at rates higher than long distance calls. A collect call from an inmate tends to cost a lot more than a call from out of state. This puts the inmate and the family in a bad situation because the inmate would have to go without talking to his family in order to save them money.

Not only are families and inmates not happy with it, but also the prison systems. There is a lot of talk about the issue, and there are plans to address the issue in a way that brings attention to it. The goal of this activity is to come to an agreement in which it will lower the prices and get rid of the charges that have plagued families that have received calls from their imprisoned relatives. The result of this action will be bringing forth a billing process that is more fair and reasonable.

For more info on GTL, visit http://www.prisontalk.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-259943.html.

How To Choose A Reliable Inmates Communications Company

Are you searching for the right inmates communications service provider for your needs? Looking for a company that will save you money in jail calls? May be you have read or heard about Keefe Group and the quality of service they provide in the corrections industry.
Staying in touch with incarcerated relatives is essential and inmates communications systems are a great way to make it happen. That’s what Keefe Group offers.

Keefe Group is a reliable provider of outstanding services including inmates communications systems. This company makes it easy for families to stay in touch with their loved one who is in jail or prison. Their telephone and video visitation systems are comprised of a vast range of features, which make it convenient and affordable to keep in touch with loved ones. Check out the Keefe Group profile on Corrections.com.

When you decide to sign up and use their system, you will be required to create an account. You will be using a prepaid account and that can funded to allow you place calls. There is also a messaging feature, which allows the user to leave voice message to be retrieved by the recipient.

During the sign up process, if you encounter any difficulty, you can contact their customer service for assistance. The team at the customer support is knowledgeable and highly dedicated to providing the best quality service possible. I have had a pleasant experience with their customer support and other people I know, also have only good things to say about the quality of support they received from this company.

Have a look around the website of Keefe Group, check out the various sections to understand what is being offered and if you have any questions or concerns, simply get in touch with them and they will respond promptly. For additional information about Keefe Group, refer to prisoncensorship.info.

A Grip On The U.S. Prison Market

With a strong national name, the Keefe Group is the largest provider of U.S. correctional facility goods. The economic leverage involved in supplying for the needs of prisons makes having inmates as customers a very lucrative business. Yet, as it stands now, the Keefe Group holds most of the competitive market when meeting needs of inmates in the United States.

There’s no one else to compete.

And that’s no understatement.

Keefe’s statistics and revenue of over $40 million yearly is proof. Products and services provided by this U.S. competitor are expansive. They include snack items, greeting cards, financial services, footwear, beauty supplies, banking machines, video visitation, games, computers, cable TV, commissary supplies and jewelry to name a few.

But there’s a new enterprise with inmate visitation technology that’s boosting the Keefe Group’s bottom line. Inmates are usually given access to telephone services for managing their relationships with family and friends. The Keefe Group infrastructure that enables video visitation and phone services are being put to use. They’re called IC Solutions.

With IC Solutions, prisons across the States have automated information lines, inmate voicemail and flexible options. Special kiosks designed by Keefe process deposits from inmates. Family or friends may also deposit cash for an inmate’s use and by using the phone and Web-based deposit services. Each of these options come with 24/7 tech support.

But innovation provided by Keefe Group offers even more options for inmates. These options consist of debit telephone accounts that allow phone calls to be made anywhere as long as the funds exist. Inmates also have prepaid accounts that accepts collect calling to an inmate’s family or friends.

The strong hold that Keefe Group has will take it into the future and build even more leverage as prison needs continue to be meet by the Keefe Group brand. Have a look at the corrections website, browse the various sections and get acquainted with the Keefe Group services offers. Also see, PrisonCensorship for additional info.

Reference: http://www.cdispatch.com/news/article.asp?aid=39055

The FCC to Crack Down on Cost of Prison Calls

The FCC is not only blowing the whistle on the cost of phone calls in and out of prisons, they are working to install some strict regulations to better control the costs. Depending on the jail or prison itself, the structure and the payments will vary. However, according to an article by the Washington Post, it is not uncommon for inmates and those that they have on the outside to be spending an average cost of up to $14 per minute. That has meant that many inmates are either unable to maintain communications with the outside world, or if they are able to charge their calls to a special amount, they are leaving prison and entering the world with a steep debt. All of this is due the way that the private communications companies that have been contracting with these jails and prisons have has the ability to price gauge, having a negative effect on the prisons, their families, and the inmates themselves.

Now, the federal government is stepping in and applying federal regulations that will prevent them from being able to do so and providing some protection to the prisoners and their families. In the article by the post, it says that the regulation committee, The Federal Communications Commission, otherwise known as the FCC, has written the new regulations to mandate that the cost of a 15 minute call can be no higher than $1.65. That is a huge difference that will have a lasting and meaningful impact on the prisoners and their families. The commissioner of the FCC Mignon Clyburn, is aware of the “incredible burden” of the costly phone calls. She knows that this will be a huge relief.

For more information or to read the original article written by the Washington Post and discussed in this article please visit: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2015/10/26/phone-calls-wont-cost-up-to-14-a-minute-anymore-but-heres-how-prisoners-families-are-still-being-fleeced/

Prison Broke

In the prison industry, it is common to hear about individuals incarcerated for obtaining money in an unlawful manner. In some cases however, it can be true that the criminal becomes the victim of another type of bank robbery. According to this article written by Erik Larson and published by Bloomberg News, JPMorgan Chase has been taking advantage of one of the countries most vulnerable group of people by charging their debit cards with many unwarranted fees. Some of these fees include $10 to withdraw from a teller window and $2 to withdraw from non-network ATMs. Needless to say, these practices have led JPMorgan Chase to become the defendants in court.

Due to their exploitative practices in the prison industry, JPMorgan Chase has been required to pay $446,000 to thousands of former prisoners for questionable bank fees as well as $250,000 in plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees. Some of the complaints put forward were the fact that prison inmates weren’t given the right to read any of the terms and conditions which were associated with debit cards issued to them as well as the fact that they weren’t given the option to refuse or accept the terms of the contract. There were also unjustified inactivity fees and fees attached to checking balance inquiries. When questioned about these practices, JPMorgan Chase refused to comment.

It is well known that a prisoner doesn’t have the same rights that other law abiding citizens posses. JPMorgan Chase used this as an excuse to exploit this group of people through shady bank practices, though they found out that criminal practices when practiced on criminals are still illegal.