A Dallas Company Finds Profit in Video-Only Jail Visitations

by Forrest Wilder Published on Thursday, October 16, 2014, at 10:30 CST

There’s nothing nice about jail. The food stinks. There’s nothing to do. People are in a bad mood. The best you can hope for is to get out quickly with minimal hassle. One of the few things you have to look forward to is a visit from a friend or a loved one—a brief face-to-face connection to remind you that the world is waiting on the other side of the glass. But some Texas jails are eliminating in-person visitation and requiring instead the use of a video visitation system sold by Dallas-based Securus Technologies. Critics say it’s an outrageous profiteering scheme that has no policy rationale and could actually deteriorate security at jails.

Securus markets its video system as a cost-saver for jails and a convenience for family members who live far from their incarcerated loved ones. But the structure of the deals suggests there are powerful financial incentives for jails to curb or eliminate face-to-face visitation. Securus charges callers as much as a dollar a minute to use its video services, and jails get a 20 to 25 percent cut. For big-city jails, that could mean millions in extra money.

“We believe Securus sees Texas county jails as a really ripe market for them,” said Kymberlie Quong Charles, an organizer with the prison reform group Grassroots Leadership. Securus, she pointed out, is a major provider of phone services for jails and prisons, but the FCC is cracking down on what it considers exorbitant rates. Video visitation could offer a source of revenue at a time of sagging profits for the industry.

In Dallas, activists and some local leaders, especially County Judge Clay Jenkins, helped kill a contract with Securus that included a provision stipulating that the jail had to eliminate all in-person visits. “It is very important that we do not profit on the backs of inmates in the jail,” Dallas County Commissioner Elba Garcia said in The Dallas Morning News.

The Bastrop County Jail is set to eliminate all face-to-face visitation in early November. Instead, visitors can use a free video terminal at the jail or pay $1 per minute to use the remote video system. The contract, reviewed by the Observer, cuts the county in for 20 percent of Securus’ revenues. It doesn’t require, like the Dallas contract, that in-person visitation be eliminated, but it stipulates that for the first two years the county only gets paid if it produces 534 paid visits per month.

In Austin, the Travis County Commissioners Court voted in October 2012 to add video visitation as an ancillary service—something prisoners’ rights advocates are fine with as long as the rates are reasonable and the service is reliable. But in May 2013, Travis County Sheriff Greg Hamilton quietly eliminated in-person visitation. Defense attorneys and inmates sued in April, claiming that the jail and Securus were unlawfully recording privileged conversations between inmates and attorneys and leaking them to prosecutors. On top of that, Quong Charles says the lack of human interaction is worsening conditions.

“What we found is that everything they said would happen in terms of improving conditions has actually gotten worse,” she said. “I think people are frustrated, they’re not getting to see anybody.”

A report released this morning by Grassroots Leadership and the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition found that disciplinary infractions, assaults and contraband cases all increased within the year after the video-only policy was put in place. The report concedes that the trends may be an aberration or temporary but cites social science and long-standing prison policies holding that visitations improves jail security and lowers recidivism rates. One study of 16,420 offenders commissioned by the Minnesota Department of Corrections, for example, found that “prison visitation can significantly improve the transition offenders make from the institution to the community.” Even one visit lowered the risk that a person would re-offend by 13 percent.

“Video-only visitation policies ignore best practices that call for face-to-face visits to foster family relationships,” the report argues. “They advance arguments about security that are dubious, not rooted in research, and may be counter-productive.”

Grassroots Leadership and the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition report found 10 counties in Texas that have already deployed video-only systems, with more considering the option.

glenn

Thanks for shedding light on this ripoff. Greg Hamilton gets a free pass largely because he’s allowed to operate out of public view. It would be interesting to know the bidding process (or lack thereof) that went into this scheme.
1bimbo

who the h*ll actually gives a sh*t about perks for jail inmates.. progressives are insane
- melissa bee
  
  when the government criminalizes behavior that could land almost anyone in jail, it might be a good time to give a sh*t about inmates.
  - 1bimbo
    
    let me guess, smokeferbrains, you’re talking about m a r i j u a n a.. never ceases to amaze me how progressives have such an issue with rule of law
    - melissa bee
      
      indirectly, but there are other factors. unless you have actual knowledge about who ends up in jail, it’s probably better not to pretend you do. the war on drugs is certainly a huge factor – and has many unintended consequences that cause innocent people to end up in jail. this is a FACT. does it seem right to you that innocent people are injured or killed in no-knock raids that are carried out at the *wrong address*? or that a man spends months in jail while awaiting lab tests on residue found inside his flashlight that is obviously battery acid? the state gets money for every day someone is incarcerated, so they have a vested interest in keeping people in there. increasingly, citizens that have mental illness and need treatment, and homeless people (who are often vets that this country owes a debt to) end up in jail – alongside those who DO deserve to be there. it’s not right, no matter what your politics are. it’s not right. and if you don’t think it can happen to you, i sincerely hope you never have a personal experience that shatters your image of what is really happening in our criminal justice system – but maybe you can be compassionate for others that are experiencing it every day.
    - ktappe
      
      It’s YOUR tax dollars keeping people in prison for smoking something non-harmful, and that several states and more cities have legalized. Or perhaps you’re just interested in arguing with people online instead of actually thinking about these topics and how they really DO affect YOU.
    - kinkinhood
      
      Do realize that many of the prison systems are private for profit prisons that give kickbacks to judges and prosecutes to put people in there and to keep them in there. Such is part of the reason we have a very poor rehabilitation program or method to help prevent repeat offenders(many people who go in will end up with a life of crime because having a felony on record and often no training for 2-5 years because of the jail time makes it so not even McDonalds will give them a chance for work, so they return to the crime to survive).
      We also have a wonderfully imbalanced punishment system that is set up to target primarily those of lower income. I mean the point that a CEO that has been caught embezzling millions of dollars gets a fine and a slap on the wrist yet someone who steals a wallet gets a year in prison.
    - FunkmasterAstronaut
      
      First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
      Because I was not a Socialist.
      
      Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
      Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
      
      Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
      Because I was not a Jew.
      
      Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me
- ktappe
  
  If you bothered reading the article, you should care. As it clearly states the recidivism is higher without in-person visits. That means YOU are more likely to be the victim of a crime committed by a former inmate that he might not have committed had he had visitation. Open your eyes.
- Howard Treesong
  
  So, you want the inmate to leave the jail at some time good and angry about society screwing him over.
  
  Because that certainly couldn’t have a negative impact on your life, could it?
- Joshua Hitch
  
  One key point is that this is happening in jails, not merely prisons. Jails are where people are often held who are awaiting trial, and are therefore still presumed innocent. Many of them ARE innocent. So, yeah, we all should care, especially if these devices are being used, as the article notes, to spy on confidential communications with their lawyers, denying their basic, Constitutional rights.
- LordBobo
  
  I might not care much about inmates, but I do care about what happens when they get out. It sounds like we’re getting closer to just locking people in a box and throwing away a key until they’ve served their time and then releasing PTSD pitbulls back into society.
  
  I dislike a for-profit prison industry getting to make the rules that might eventually include making the very laws that get you put in their private fiefdom.
glenn

take of the bimbo mask, darby. you did everything you could to stay out of the federal pen for your dealings with hugo chavez.
- 1bimbo
  
  progressive socialist liberal democrats champion the criminals.. could it be that they’re criminally insane
  - ktappe
    
    Or it could be that we realize in an increasingly police state, any of us could become criminals tomorrow. When you are in prison, you’ll suddenly realize that perhaps you should have fought against wrongdoing against prisoners too. But as usual, only the “socialist liberal democrats” actually are able to put themselves in someone else’s shoes and consider all perspectives…
    - Milo Minderbinder
      
      Empathy? Nooooo….
  - Robert_Loblaw
    
    when you define everything outside of your own narrow worldview as insane and criminal, then i suppose everyone else would seem criminally insane.
melissa bee

when they talk about contraband in jail, they do not make a distinction between contraband that gets there from outside the jail, and contraband that is already in the jail. first of all – contraband is anything that is used in a way other than it is intended. so if an inmate “tapes” two pencils together to make it easier to write (they only get little golf pencils), that is considered contraband. the “tape” is the sticker from their deodorant, that they get from commissary. so these numbers don’t mean squat and they don’t have anything to do with the visitation system.

also, it’s a deception to say that it’s a security issue, and/or that it saves money to not have to transport inmates for visitation. the inmates are NOT transported, they either walk *themselves* to the building where the video equipment is (all the walkways are fenced and barb-wired), or they go to the area in their own pod where the equipment is. it’s total bullshit that any resources are used to transport inmates. the facilities were already there before the in person visitation was eliminated.

this is true in austin, and i suspect it is the same for dallas. it’s a total racket, win-win for securus and the jail administrator, and lose-lose for inmates and their families.

and remember, most of the inmates in a jail are *pre-trial detainees*, and have not been convicted of anything. it’s a little ironic that if you are convicted and go to prison, you can have full contact visits. just not in jail, when you’re awaiting trial.
- physics2010
  
  Contraband from the outside doesn’t come from visitors anyway, it comes from corrupt guards.
Bob

Escorting inmates, escorting visitors, security screening/patting down both parties, watching them, etc. – all take corrections officer resources and those facilities are already understaffed. If technology can help in any area make this a jail run more cost effective, use it please. Also – I can see this helping Friends and Family of inmates that live far away. Look at gas prices. Maybe in some large towns there is parking that needs to be paid? Is it not a convenience and potential cost saver for the Friends and Family of inmates? Oh – and contraband being brought in the jails are greatly reduced too.

So tired of seeing “profit” as a dirty word in today’s world.
- Bob Loblaw
  
  You are tired of seeing it and people are tired of paying for things they are not supposed to pay.
  
  It is about profits, what else? This is America. CAPITALISM.
- ktappe
  
  If you don’t see $1/minute as onerous, especially when an institution that is not supposed to be for-profit is profiting, then you don’t understand what capitalism really is. Capitalism is when entities COMPETE to provide the better service and the OPEN MARKET decides what the best solution is. Here Securus has a monopoly. How exactly is that “capitalism”??
- melissa bee
  
  They’re lying to us, Bob. Inmates are NOT escorted for visits. They either walk themselves, or – if they are max inmates and aren’t allowed to walk to the visitation room – their attorneys have to go to the building where their client is to have their visit. The pods have the video equipment right there with the phones, so they could easily implement a hybrid system wherein max inmates have video only in their own pods, and others walk themselves to the visitation building for in person visits – which are behind glass so there are no security issues.
  
  again – inmates are not escorted for visits – i guess the Sheriff’s office thinks that no one will know that they’re lying about that – but they are.
  - Bob
    
    Melissa – I can tell you are very passionate about this topic and I sympathize with you and your personal experiences that undoubtedly shape your opinion here. For the most part – prisons and jails are places where bad people are locked up until a trial to determine guilt/punishment, or for the already found guilty – to service out their sentence. They are designed to be humane, but also not exactly pleasant. They do not contain the same services and comforts as one would expect from the outside/free-world. Because we are a nation of laws, and there will always be lawbreakers – these are necessary institutions that come with a high price tag to the working / tax-paying citizenry. If 3rd party businesses can contract with these institutions and invest private dollars in infrastructure at these facilities, to supply an approved service that wouldn’t ordinarily be there, and also add additional benefits such as added security (all non-lawyer type visits/calls are recorded and monitored), reduced running costs for the jail/prison, reduced contraband brought to the facility (regardless of the stats you cited – I see no way for video visitation to actually increase contraband), convenience to Friends and Family and in many cases cost savings to them as well, then I’m in full support. Furthermore – If these correctional facilities receive a commission from these services and they use this money to help run the facility (i.e. – overhead, correctional officers, food, beverages, educational programs, drug abuse programs, medical care, etc.), I see nothing wrong with that at all.
    
    Nobody is forcing anyone to use these services. They can still go to the jail
    for a free video visitation if they choose.
    - kinkinhood
      
      Commission being used to help run the facility? That’s a laugh. The money is most probably helping the CEOs pay for their cocaine they snort at the elite clubs they are part of. Often if they can find an excuse to cut costs on something to give more money to themselves they will
    - melissa bee
      
      Bob, I feel like you’re not listening. The Sheriff’s office is lying.
      
      “prisons and jails are places where bad people are locked up until a trial to determine guilt/punishment [...]”
      
      1. Let’s not label people “bad” when guilt has yet to be determined. There are a lot of good people in jail who have yet to have their day in court, and are legally presumed innocent. If you can’t afford to bond out, it is nearly impossible to participate in your own defense. If we’re going to take people’s liberties, we’ve got to do it right.
      
      2. This is NOT the free market at play. Monopolies have not place in the free market. These contracts are awarded to a single company (there are two major prison phone companies – they use the same software and i suspect they have the same members on their board), precisely so that there IS no competition. Their service is shitty, their equipment is shitty, and their customer service is shitty. They have zero motivation to improve any of that, because why would they? The jails get huge kickbacks for awarding the contracts. The market is not driving this. These phone companies do not provide any extra security. These services are provided for FREE on the outside by countless companies (Skype, for one). I’m already paying for phone service, I should not have to pay an additional fee for taking a call from an inmate. Also, there are multiple cases of official visits with counsel that have not only been recorded, but handed over to the prosecution and used against the defendant. The state claims they don’t know how that happened. This is currently being investigated in Travis County, among other places. The claim of Increased security is a blatant lie.
      
      3. “reduced running costs for the jail/prison, reduced contraband brought to the facility (regardless of the stats you cited – I see no way for video visitation to actually increase contraband) [...]”
      
      I addressed this, and you’re ignoring it. Of course contraband has NOTHING to do with visitation – but that is what the Sheriff’s office CLAIMED as a justification for eliminating in person visits (even though it actually increased). There is also no reduced cost in running the jail. As I said, inmates are NOT escorted for their visits. There is simply no cost or security benefit for eliminating in person visits.
      
      Video visitation is absolutely a benefit for families who would otherwise have to travel for visits, but again, there is no reason or benefit to eliminating in person visits – both can, and should, be available.
      
      The Sheriff’s office also claimed that the average stay in jail is 17 days, which is not a long enough for families to suffer from not having contact. First of all – if you were arrested because a cop unscrewed a flashlight in your car and decided that the battery corrosion was drug residue – how many days would be acceptable to remain in custody before you could have a visit? or a phonecall? How many days would it take before you lost your job? Would it be more or less than 17?
      
      The claim of 17 days is nonsense anyway – and they need to provide the data for that. They might be talking about people who bond out, but most don’t, and the average stay is WAY longer than that. If you don’t have a paid attorney, your wait to meet with a public defender could be months. That’s a fact. Do you seriously think it’s acceptable for them to lie in order to profit off of these families?
      
      The Texas Supreme Court repealed your right to a speedy trial in their state in 2005. That’s right, they repealed a constitutional right, because “the state should not be encumbered by the defendant’s right to a speedy trial.”
      
      Here’s the thing, Bob. The state is trampling on constitutional rights and due process, and the people affected by this have no voice. They have no resources, they have no lobbies, they have no political clout. And the prevailing thought is, they’re criminals, so who cares? They’re accused of a crime, so they’re probably guilty, and therefore it’s acceptable to rape their families and rob them of their rights, and lie about how that’s happening.
      - Bob
        
        Wow – you said a lot there. I hear everything you are saying, but you do not have the facts and are discrediting yourself using the “rape / robbing” metaphors. Most
        fair-minded individuals will attest that not everyone in jail (awaiting trial) is guilty and they would also contend that the same holds true for those incarcerated and serving time in prison. I certainly don’t think our justice system is 100% perfect, but it’s the best in the world in my opinion. (In this country – everyone is welcome to disagree.) Please understand that, factually – most of the people inside of jails and prisons actually deserve to be there because of a crime that they committed. I
        understand that your specific personal experience may certainly be an exception, but those are the facts and they are indisputable. These video visitation and phone services that these 3rd party companies provide cost money. The research and development of these technologies, infrastructure including hardware & software, recordings and records storage, repair/maintenance of equipment, and on and on. These services monitor communications between those that are locked up and those on the outside. These electronic recordings that are monitored by law enforcement help save lives. Often times they help convict those criminals awaiting trials, prevent future crimes being conducted from within the walls of the jail/prison, and help prevent escapes. It’s a fact – these services and the technologies help make our neighborhoods safer. Without these recording services, there is no way for correctional officers to monitor these conversations in a cost-effective manner.
        
        There are 2 main entrance points of contraband into a jail/prison. Visitors and Correction Officers and limiting Cos is not a real option. Limiting face-to-face visitation DOES reduce contraband into the facility. Anytime you limit or reduce the number of people entering a jail/prison, you limit the possibly entry points of contraband. And I’m talking real contraband – Not pencils taped together.
        
        Maybe the facility you visit is vastly different than the ones I’ve had experiences with, but inmates do not have free-roam of all the areas and cannot escort themselves at will to the visitation areas. Moving inmates around a correctional
        facility and keeping certain sexes, and classifications separated requires a
        great bit of coordination and manpower. Manpower that most facilities do not have to spare. Remember – Manpower = money.
        
        Profit.
        I assure you, these state-run jails and prisons do not turn a profit. They cost taxpayers lots and lots of money. Commissions they receive for these services help ease that burden of cost, help make the facility safer, and help make the streets safer and are an optional service that Friends/Family do not have a right to, nor are they forced to use.
      - raysusan49
        
        I sure hope someone is paying you well Bob, or is it Boob?
      - melissa bee
        
        I don’t have the facts, Bob? Which facts are you disputing?
        
        Visitation – whether in person or video – has zero impact on outside contraband because the in person visits are behind glass.
        
        The report showed that everything they claimed would be improved, in fact got worse. Then they lied and said they didn’t claim those things.
        
        There is no cost reduction due to no longer transporting inmates, because inmates are not transferred, and they never were.
        
        Every sidewalk is lined with chain-link fencing and barbed wire. Inmates who are allowed visitors WALK THEMSELVES to the visitation building.
        
        The video equipment is available in every pod with the phones, so max inmates have no need to go to another building.
        
        Their service is faulty. It doesn’t work. It constantly drops calls, and I frequently pay for long stretches of dead air. Securus WILL NOT REFUND for any reason. These are expensive calls. If there were competition and this was truly a free market, there would be other companies who would happily provide better service. That’s the only way the free market works. That’s not what is happening here.
        
        You can download FREE apps all day long that will record both audio and video phone calls that provide infinitely better service than Securus. I have one on my phone now that records every call I make. It works beautifully, it never drops my calls and is clear as a bell. If the jails are truly relying on the service that Securus provides to thwart crimes, they are idiots because it’s a terrible service.
        
        Some people deserve to be in prison, that is the punishment – being in prison. They, along with their families, should not be fair game to be ripped off. It’s wrong.
        
        And, like I said, the elimination of in person (behind glass) visits, is happening in jails, not prisons, where up to 90% of inmates are pre-trial detainees. That is a fact.
      - Bob
        
        I can’t speak to the quality of services provided here, but I can imagine (with new technology), there are some issues. I know when I use skype, it locks up often and many times it doesn’t work at all. Keep in mind, those free apps are only free because of advertising. Maybe you should create your own business model. You should contract with jails/prisons to provide these services that are free to Friends/Family and inmates – all they have to do is listen to or view advertisements/commercials.
        
        I’m not aware of this report you are talking about. I’m speaking in generalities. You reduce the number of visitors coming in to the jail, you reduce the contraband too. Not every jail/prison has behind glass visitation. Each one, i suppose, is different.
        Visitation at correctional facilities I’ve been around is absolutely huge cost burden on manpower/money.
      - melissa bee
        
        If any business could contract with the jails, it wouldn’t be a monopoly, would it. That is my whole point. There are obviously many businesses that could provide much better service at a much lower price. This is what I’m saying.
        
        If you’re not aware of the report I’m talking about, maybe you should have read the article.
        
        Please provide some data for your claim of the “huge cost burden” of in person vs. video-only visitation.
      - Bob
        
        Any business can contract with these jails/prisons provided you meet the requirements of the RFP. Of course – because all this equipment costs money – contractual terms are agreed to. Once the contract is up, they go out for bid. Much like your own cell phone contract.
      - melissa bee
        
        You’re obviously being intentionally obtuse.
      - citizensugarcane
        
        Here is a former law enforcement officer, charged with a very peculiar crime, displaying symptoms of the DTs but not given treatement, dying after being tasered in jail.
        
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds56hkTegGQ
        
        Remember if you are a LEO, this could be you someday. Just be inconvenient.
    - Bill Agans
      
      how is solitary confinement or torture humane? u consider an inmate bein’ scalded to death under 185* shower by cops humane? what about when a mentally ill inmate is denied their meds while trapped in a head cage & handcuffed while havin’ life-threatenin’ seizures, & the guards/cops do nothin’ to help? u realize how much abuse really goes on in the prison system?
    - melissa bee
      
      “Nobody is forcing anyone to use these services. They can still go to the jailfor a free video visitation if they choose.”
      
      Wrong again, Bob. Families *are* forced to use THIS ONE service, because that’s how monopolies work. I have zero choice but to use Securus if I want to visit or speak to my brother. If I go to the facility to visit, I STILL HAVE TO PAY. It is not free.
      - Bob
        
        “…if I want to visit or speak to my brother.” Nobody is forcing you to do this. It is your choice.
        
        And it is not a constitution right or human right. It’s a privilege.
        
        Courts have reasoned that a state’s goal of segregating an inmate from society seems inconsistent with allowing that inmate access to visitors.
      - melissa bee
        
        My brother is a pre-trial detainee, as are most of the inmates in jails. He is legally presumed innocent. If we could afford to bond him out, ON TOP OF the price of a paid attorney, he would be awaiting trial while continuing to work, and freely participate in his defense, and meet with his attorney without fear of their conversations being recorded.
        
        What that means, is that if you have unlimited financial resources, you can remain free unless and until you are convicted. If you don’t, you can rot in there as long as the state wants to keep you there. (Remember that the Texas Supreme Court repealed your right to a speedy trial.)
        
        Today is day 469, without being in front of a judge. No one is “forcing” me to speak to my brother. That’s rich. I have POA for him, and there is NO WAY to provide him any defense, to manage his affairs, to mediate with his employer, to do the simplest of things like make his car payments without speaking to him. He had a hearing scheduled today, for which he was transported to court (now THAT involves a cost but has nothing to do with visitation), and then told that his hearing was re-set. I only know this because he was able to call me. I then heard from his attorney who informed me the hearing was NOT, in fact, re-set. This is not the first time he was LIED to by court officers about his hearings. I am the only one who can sort these things out when they happen, and relay information, it sometimes takes two days to get to the bottom of what actually happened at a hearing – I am four states away. Yes, it is my choice to do this, and it is HIS CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT to defend himself, and to be presumed innocent. How are you going to defend yourself with a system like that, if you have no one to advocate for you? No one can call an inmate, inmates can only call out, and only IF they are calling someone who has an authorized, pre-paid account, and only during certain times of day. Try to get medical records that are needed for trial, or make a mortgage payment under those circumstances.
        
        I wonder if you only find this acceptable only because it hasn’t happened to you?
- melissa bee
  
  I agree that video visitation is a good thing for families who are not local and are unable to visit. The (lying) officials said that video would be *in addition* to what was already in place. They lied. The contract with Securus stipulated the elimination of in person visits. There’s no reason there can’t be both.
  
  And read the report, Bob. Contraband *increased* under the video only visitation. Everything they said would be improved, actually got worse. That’s a fact. And please understand what “contraband” is. There is absolutely no way that contraband can enter the jail from in person visitation, because it is behind glass. Any commissary item that is “misused,” i.e., used in a way it wasn’t intended, is considered “contraband.” Like an extra towel, or two pencils taped together to make writing easier (they only get golf pencils). That has ZERO to do with visitation. Contraband from outside the jail can only come from the guards, not from the visitors.
  
  The Sheriff’s office is totally misrepresenting this, and there is no reason that the jail administrators and the phone companies should profit off of these families. Most of the jail inmates are pre-trial detainees and have not been convicted of anything – and are therefore, by law, presumed innocent – and yet they are not allowed in person visits by their families. It’s wrong, Bob, and ironic, since convicted felons who are sent on to prison can have visitors.
  
  Profit is not evil, but monopolies are, and those companies have no interest in the constitutional rights of citizens. If it were you, and it easily could be, you would want to see your family.
lifeok

There is a special place in hell for those private for profit prison corporation CEOs and guards, they will be dancing with Lucifer after they die, like their idol Ronald Regan and Jerry Falwell.
lifeok

I can’t wait until all the conservative evangelicals be put to those private prison, since they love every law so much.
IHateFatChicks

This is ridiculous and won’t withstand legal scrutiny.
- melissa bee
  
  it has been in place in quite a few jails for some time. travis county implemented this in march of 2013. my brother has been a pretrial detainee in travis county for 466 days, and has not even entered a plea yet. fortunately, there are those who are paying attention, but it took ten years for the FCC to issue a ruling about the costs of prison phone calls, so i’ll believe it when i see it.
  - f.avallearce
    
    I was wondering how you knew so much about the situation. I’m very sorry for your plight and I hope your brother gets a fair trail and resolution. I wanted to let you know that eventually things will come to head concerning America’s penchant for incarceration. The rest of the world is watching, and they are flabbergasted. I live in Denmark, and people continually ask me why we imprison such a huge portion of our own population. Most Americans don’t realize that we have jailed 760 people per 100,000; Denmark has 73. “But Denmark is a tiny, peaceful country!” conservatives say. True, so how about Mexico, with a rate of 203 per 100,000. Or that bastion of free will and self-determination, China, with a rate of 124 (or 174, depending on where you look) per 100k. Something is truly wrong with America’s legal system, and someday people will wake up and realize that a great deal of money is being made by depriving the poorest and least advantaged among us of their essential, inalienable right: freedom.
    - melissa bee
      
      Thank you, and I hope you’re right. Scandinavian countries are so far ahead of the US in their prison system, we could learn much from them. Norway has no death penalty, and also no life sentence (their maximum sentence is 20 years). It is an uninformed fallacy that US prisons are so pleasant that people commit crimes just so they can have cable tv, three squares and medical care. In fact, Norway provides a pleasant environment for their inmates – yet their recidivism rate is 20%. Compare that to the US rate of 67% (within 3 years of release) and 76% (within 5 years of release).
      
      Ironically, “tough on crime” policies only create more crime, and more criminals.
      
      We’re doing it wrong.
      - f.avallearce
        
        I couldn’t agree with you more concerning Scandinavia! If you look at the crime rates between Denmark and the U.S. your jaw will drop. In fact that’s one of the (many) reasons I moved here. I am fully cognizant, however, that most Americans are not as fortunate as I have been (born to upper middle class family, educated, and most important to the point I am about to make, white), so one would think that fixing the problems in the US would be in everyone’s vested interest, instead than supporting policies than clearly serve to accentuate, rather than alleviate, the given problem. Having the advantage of being outside and looking in, I’m starting to think that “tough on crime” is merely a dog whistle. People who espouse such policies are really saying, “Keep those inner city (read: black or Hispanic) people out of the suburbs and countryside.” Just look at the sentencing guidelines for crack vs cocaine to see the vast disparity between how blacks and whites have been treated by the judicial system. Although at this point, starting about ten years or so ago, the drive to make prisons “profitable” has completely eliminated any vestige of fairness or justice, for anybody, that was remaining in the American legal system (and people like that jackass bimbo1 earlier in this comment section had better pray they never fall afoul of it). Hopefully, efforts by people like you, who have armed yourselves with the facts, will be enough to educate the ignorant and shed light on how deeply troubling the prison situation in Texas, and the nation, really is. Thank you for being one of the few who is willing to look at what is actually happening, rather than accepting the spoon-fed story.
      - kinkinhood
        
        I think an issue to also look at is incarceration vs rehabilitation. The Scandinavian countries work to rehabilitate their criminals into functional members of society through trade training and pushing them onto the right track. I have also heard they do have at least some level of job placement for released inmates to help them get back into the common workforce. They also have the benefit of the felony not being the scarlet letter.
        What do we have here? Maybe some general education for inmates, very little if any trade training options, then we also have the felony scarlet letter often preventing someone from being able to get work when they get released(especially in our very high unemployment rate). This in turn often brings them to only get the options of returning to criminal lifestyle, becoming a homeless beggar, or making criminal connections in the prison system and becoming a hardened criminal, all of this for the sake of a select few’s pocketbooks under the guise of helping keep our streets safe.
      - melissa bee
        
        That’s exactly right, @kinkinhood:disqus. US jails and prisons are nothing but college for criminals. And once you are branded as a felon, that is, in essence, a life sentence, your life is over, even after you are released. No job for you, no voting for you, and no one wants you to live in their neighborhood. Of course, having a job is a condition of parole, so if you can’t get a job, you’re going back to jail. And since being homeless in this country is also a jailable offense – get back in there!
Judas

Hmm, so charging criminals for services is bad, but taxing hard working Americans to give that money to the lazy is ok?? Yeah, we can agree on one thing. Morals in this country are ALL screwed up.
- FunkmasterAstronaut
  
  When you live in a society with unjust laws and unfair disadvantages where people can be imprisoned for completely non-violent offenses it is not right to deny someone their basic human rights to see their spouse our children in real life. Prison is already a nightmare that turns people who made a petty mistake into mentally ill, institutionalized hardened criminals. The criminal justice system is a growing business that operates on the concept that in order to keep themselves funded we must be imprisoning massive amounts of our population.
  
  I would contend that your morals are the ones that are warped.
- melissa bee
  
  The video visitation issue is in JAILS, where the vast majority of inmates are PRE-TRIAL DETAINEES who have not been convicted of anything. Why don’t people get this? If you are convicted, sentenced, and serving time in prison, you can have in person visits. But if you are waiting to prove your innocence you can’t.
  
  I don’t know what you’re talking about “taxing hard working Americans to give that money to the lazy.” Who said anything about that?
  
  Do you not realize that most people in jail had jobs when they were arrested? Do you not realize that the families of inmates are hard working American taxpayers?
  
  They’re not charging criminals for services, they’re charging *the families* of American citizens who are supposedly presumed innocent and are constitutionally entitled to due process.
  
  Imagine this, Judas. You live in a state that REQUIRES an arrest is made on EVERY domestic violence call – even if they got there and your wife was out of town and it was your neighbor who hates your RV or your American flag who called – they are REQUIRED to arrest you. You are “presumed innocent,” and yet you are allowed no contact visits, your family cannot even speak to you on the phone until they open up an account and pay as much as $30 for a 20-minute call.
  
  Does that seem right to you?
Convergence87

because murica
Mark Klausewitz

I repudiate the comments trying to make this into a Liberal-Conservative divide. I applaud the facts being shared here by people who know how it is and condemn those who speak in generalities from the ideological comfort of their sofa chairs.

Those who are restrained before their Court dates or bond hearings should retain ALL rights other than their temporary restraint of freedom, including the right to live visits by their loved ones, friends, and counsel. Others who have been convicted, are stripped of certain rights by law. To deprive them of any live visitation from their loved ones is torture in addition to their lawful punishment.

The friends, families, and visitors of these inmates are often treated like criminals ourselves, having to subject ourselves sometimes to humiliating searches and ordered around like slaves. The imposition of top of these restrictions for families that want to have a live visit with a loved one without being ripped off per minute on top of that is completely inhumane. I stopped visiting a person when the facility required my fingerprint to visit him, as I would not accept being treated such.

Often the system will condemn an prisoner -and his loved ones- to a distant prison sometimes hundreds of miles away. Understand that I am not advocating any less than the lawful sentence for a convicted individual. Families need not suffer and be condemned themselves.

Far from this point of view being liberal -it is the most conservative point of view there could be: the system is flawed and though there be little doubt most in the system belong there, and the true percent of innocents is unknown- it is not less true that many are there pending trial as well as having been convicted for non-violent offenses such as possession of dope or carrying a lawful weapon in your car into a crazy gun law State such as New Jersey or New York.

To some that take the position that any injustice is deserved by those behind bars – how can you be so callous to equally condemn those who merely want to visit him/her? What nature of an individual will deny children the chance to see their parent at least once a week, or is the intent to both punish the prisoner -beyond the dictated punishment- as well as the family, so as to impact a double dose of extrajudicial punishment to the targeted non-conformists? Why don’t we just waterboard everyone right after admission, cut off a finger for each return to prison, or even better, save the taxpayers some money and simply parade them to the poison gas showers, then straight to the ovens?

The Bible is clear on its instructions to visit those imprisoned and bring them comfort.

With the return to debtors’ prison, criminalizing dissent and unpopular beliefs, going to jail for filming cops, buying raw milk, defending your life or property, criticizing Obama or the police in facebook, and for performing lawful acts such as slinging a rifle in Texas, the system we have now is not worthy of support.

The US has the dubious distinction of having the second highest percent of population behind bars -are we such a bad people, and if not, what might be the reason? Think!

So if you have not visited anyone whose freedom has been restrained, please be quiet and learn from those that have.

If you have a loved one in jail or prison – my deepest sympathy is with you. You are not guilty of anything, you are not a criminal and you are worthy of the same respect as any other human being. Remember to write your representatives in the State where you live, and network with others during visitation. Then agree to visit your representative at his/her office together, or band together to speak out at town hall meetings in your area. We need to stop corruption, disrespect of families, monopoly, ripoffs of inmates and their families, and crimes and injustices committed under color of law. Let’s fix this!
MystiKasT

Jails are nothing more than money making schemes