What Matters Most: Capitalism or Human Connection?

If you or a loved one have been in a circumstance in which you had to communicate from the inside of a prison or jail facility, then you have probably dealt with the company that has monopolized the technologies for almost all these facilities—Securus Technologies.

“I believe Securus is a for-profit company and thus makes revenue based decisions” said Gil Long, Director of Fiscal Management, who serves on the Offender Telephone Contract Monitoring Committee for the Department of Corrections in Missouri.

There are two major companies that have bought out all of the other competing phone companies, in terms of providing for correctional facilities: GTL and Securus. Being the only two providers left to bridge the communication gap between inmates and their loved ones, they have created the prime environment for establishing excessive prices in order to make a greater profit.

Securus plans to buy out ICSolutions, as well as other non-phone companies, which would further their monopoly over the prison and jail telecom industry by extending their reach and allowing for other technologies to be included in their contracts (such as tablets, iPads, video calling, etc.) With access to new technologies, Securus is able to create “bundled contracts” which scatters the profits across various companies, thus hiding the real cost of services from the facilities as well as the families who sign up to pay for these resources (“State of Phone Justice.”) These bundled contracts also make it nearly impossible for a facility to decide they want to switch providers, because Securus now controls the rates on calls, videos, emails, and more.

I spoke with the Jail Administrator at Albemarle District Jail in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, to investigate any developments in their Securus contract, and though he stated he could not answer any of my questions about the private company they are in contract with, he transparently did not support the use of tablets or any other amenities for inmates.

“The District Attorney’s Office is looking into the legalities of our inmates having access to devices like tablets,” said Robert Jones, Jail administrator at Albemarle District Jail, “but no, I don’t think we will be bringing tablets into our facility.”

I spoke with two inmates who have been transferred between multiple facilities in North Carolina, including New Hanover County Detention Center, to get a better understanding of their views on the bundled contracts.

“We could email every day, I think it was like a dollar an email, and same with music” said Kari Butler. “Wake County and New Hanover charged five dollars a month for the tablets, so it was pretty cheap and effective.”

After the brief interview, I explained the hidden costs that their families may be subject to because of the extra amenities provided by Securus. While you think you are only paying five dollars a month to have the tablet, you have to take into consideration the other services that your loved one is still paying for.

Speaking of hiding costs, Securus is also guilty of charging various hidden fees for phone calls that would go unnoticed if not brought to the family’s attention. Funding an individual call without a calling account is one of the first places in which the fees apply. If your loved one does not have a funding account to put money on their phone and canteen, then the phone call you get sounds something like this:

“Our records show you do not have enough funds to pay for this call. If you would like to pay for just this call, press 1. If you would like to decline the call, press 2...” and once you press 1, they ask you to input your card information before continuing. Once your card info is already in the system, the automated voice says, “your phone call will cost $4.91 along with a $0.10 charge per minute on the phone, plus a one time fee of $3.00. If you wish to continue, press 1. To hang up, press 2.”

After you press 1, the phone is connected and your card is immediately charged nearly $8.00 without the cost-per-minute. For an entire fifteen minute phone call in North Carolina, you would have to pay upwards of $10.00. This is because the companies in control of these communication systems do not care about human connection; they only care about monopolizing their industry and making their money back through hidden fees.

“In Brunswick County, it’s like fifteen dollars per call because we had to pay for each one” said Kari Butler. “I couldn’t have a prepaid account, so it was like $14.37 for one fifteen-minute phone call.”

These companies make their money back by exploiting families who use companies like Western Union and MoneyGram to send their money to their loved ones by charging astronomical transfer fees. For MoneyGram, you are subject to paying a fee of around $6.00, and for Western Union, it is nearly $12.00 just to send one payment to your loved one in jail or prison (“State of Phone Justice.”)

When you compare the amount of money your loved one is receiving to how much you spend sending them money through Western Union, your loved one may only be receiving about 62.5% of what you paid ($20.00 transferred through WU=$32.00 spent, and 20/32=62.5%). To visit a doctor in jail for anything from Advil for a migraine to your prescribed blood pressure medication that the officers have neglected to give to you, you have to pay $20.00 to see a nurse. Therefore, for my mother to make it through the week without any major blood pressure complications, or anything else, my family is subject to spend nearly $100 a week—which does not include funding her phone and canteen accounts.

These hidden fees are enacted by the phone companies (Securus and GTL) in order to regain the money that they pay the facilities for commissions. Jail and prison facilities often choose phone companies based on their promised commission pay, rather than the resulting price increase on the actual consumers of the product (“Please Deposit All of Your Money…”) This further proves that these facilities, and phone companies alike, care more about capitalism than human connection.

Through a friend of mine in Wilmington, I was able to get in contact with the Director of Fiscal Management for a facility in Missouri, whose job is to manage Securus contracts. I was able to ask what he believes should be done about making facilities and individuals more aware of these hidden fees.

“We are aware that this is an industry-wide issue so we define allowable fees and their cost in our contract” said Gil Long. “I have not received any complaints of fees being charged above and beyond what is allowable by contract in Missouri’s state-run prisons.”

When experiencing an issue with their system, Securus is unlikely to have sympathy on your personal situation, and from my experience, nothing can really be done. There have been times where their video visitation has swinded me out of a thirty-minute video call with my mom, on-site, at the facility, and yet the officers can’t do anything because the system is run by Securus. I was asked to leave and set up another video visit online, though you can’t book a visit the same day you want to go, and I was only there for the weekend visitation day before returning home, four hours away from my mom.

“It was so frustrating because I couldn’t see or hear you, and I didn’t know if you could hear me—I just kept talking. When you finally came up with only three minutes left, I could tell you had been crying the whole time” said Angel Sawyer, an inmate at Albemarle District Jail in North Carolina. “I feel like it's a failure to the system that you weren't able to just go into the next visitation slot. Their scheduling system sucks.”

Their calling services also place absurd boundaries on communications, including the prevention of third-party calls using a hypersensitive listening device for the duration of your phone call. If Securus suspects that you are adding another member to the phone call, they will terminate the call, and if you were using a cell phone, they are not going to give you a refund. Anything from an odd clicking sound to texting while on the phone with your loved one may result in you wasting $10.00 in an attempt to connect with your loved one while maintaining your normal lifestyle.

These problems are not local to North Carolina, but extend across all facilities that work under a Securus Contract. Gil Long, a member of the Offender Telephone Contract Monitoring Committee, sometimes personally handles individual issues between Securus and the families of inmates at Missouri Department of Corrections.

“I mostly deal with operational issues,” said Gil Long, Director of Fiscal Management, “such as defective phones, network issues, software issues, and more.”

Profiting off of the less fortunate is clearly their goal, in order to continue to make back their profits that were paid back to the facilities through commissions, and to maintain their monopoly over the phone providers for jails and prisons. I discussed this issue with the other inmate that was transfered from New Hanover County Detention Center.

“No, I don’t think they care at all if I can’t talk to my mama” said Dominique Eason. “I have problems with them all the time, like sometimes, it’ll just say ‘third party call’ and just hang up!”

Dominique’s family had to open up a new phone network with a “252” number, because her mother was being charged out-of-state call rates because of her Wilmington (910) number. Problems like these are not alien to the families of those isolated in jail, devoid of human connection, simply awaiting trial.

Families like Dominique’s need a platform to tell their stories, and to connect with other families who experience these same problems. A united force that stands together is stronger, and educating other families could give way to a new movement in jail and prison communications reform.

Works Cited

Initiative, Prison Policy. “Please Deposit All of Your Money - Report.” Please Deposit All of Your Money - Report | Prison Policy Initiative, www.prisonpolicy.org/phones/pleasedeposit.html.

Initiative, Prison Policy. “State of Phone Justice.” State of Phone Justice | Prison Policy Initiative, www.prisonpolicy.org/phones/state_of_phone_justice.html.