I'm tired of hearing sheriffs fear monger to protect their funds. Making prison and jail communication free doesn’t threaten public safety, it improves it.
Been meaning to do this for a while, but this misguided op-ed really necessitates it. THREAD 👇 pilotonline.com/opinion/column…
Making communication free doesn't interfere with any security and surveillance features. Not a single city or state that has moved to free prison or jail calls has stopped recording or monitoring calls. They have simply realized that it is their responsibility to fund. /1
The @FCC is currently taking on the very question of whether security and surveillance costs should even be considered a cost of communication service. Seems clear: No. Security and surveillance are functions of jailing, and the cost should not be shifted onto families. /2
In fact, prison telecom corps started by selling security and surveillance tech to prisons and jails. But they weren’t particularly successful because no one wanted to pay for it – it was considered a nice to have, not need to have. /3
In 1991, the population at Rikers Island, the nation’s largest jail at the time, peaked at 21,000 people. At the time, phone calls were NOT recorded (and were FREE). Jail phone calls on the Island did not start being recorded until 2008. /4 truthout.org/articles/disma…
The AT&T breakup allowed the corps to start providing telephone service. They cornered the correctional market by promising jailers to not just shift surveillance costs onto families but to also share the profits. It was never about security, but money. /5 theappeal.org/politicalrepor…
The other key beneficiaries were the prosecutors who inherited a new tool to cage people. People who are held pretrial due to their inability to pay bail have their calls recorded while their wealthy counterparts do not – contributing to the inequity in trial outcomes. /6
Worse yet, the vendors that jailers entrust to appropriately surveil calls have been repeatedly caught illegally recording attorney-client calls AND handing them over to prosecutors, who gladly, quietly receive them – a clear constitutional violation. /7 theregister.com/2020/08/19/sec…
This is why we’re introducing legislation in NYC this fall to stop the surveillance of all jail calls. It’s time we stop driving inequity, violating people’s constitutional rights, and dehumanizing intimate relationship. But I digress, that’s a conversation for another day. /8
The bottom line is that charging families high rates for prison and jail calls cannot be fairly explained by security and surveillance. And making these calls free does not put security and surveillance in jeopardy. This is mere gaslighting. /9
Which is way, in many cases, jailers have moved on to claiming that the revenue from calls support programs and “inmate welfare,” which is part lie and part misguided. /10
Very little of the funds generated from phone calls are actually used for programs or the welfare of people inside anywhere. They’ve been used for everything from jail maintenance and probation officers to new weapons and data systems. /11 ibtimes.com/how-prison-pho…
More importantly, why should families be funding programs? Ask any elected about the purpose of incarceration, and they’ll include rehabilitation, maybe even first. Well, if programs are a core function of corrections, why are they not funded in its core operating budget? /12
Again, exploiting the love families have for their loved ones inside has never been about security, surveillance, rehabilitation, or welfare. It’s always been about the extraction of wealth in a conspiracy between private vendors and their government business partners. /13
That said, let’s move on to the next foolish argument: incarcerated people and their families have “plenty of alternatives to phone calls.” It cannot be credibly suggested that mail – physical or electronic – can replace hearing a loved one's voice. Seriously? /14
But even mail is being dehumanized thanks to recent digitization pilots. Imagine receiving a black and white photocopy of a birthday card your child made for you? Or worse yet, a digital copy on your tablet? /15 motherjones.com/crime-justice/…
Video calls, where available, are a certainly welcome. But they are generally more expensive than phone calls and often used to replace the most important contact: visits. Why? Because, once again, jailers get a cut of the call revenue. /16 theguardian.com/us-news/2017/d…
Incarcerated people and families welcome new communication tech, but not at the cost – financial and human. These new technologies are introduced in the most exploitative ways possible because they’re entrusted to corps with long histories of unencumbered predation. /17
The truth is that free communication campaigns are about connecting incarcerated people and their support networks – and this only has a positive impact, not just for incarcerated people and their families, but for jailers and the community. /18
Prisons and jails that have already implemented free communication policies have seen reductions in violence, which improves the environment for incarcerated people and correctional officers alike. /19
For incarcerated people, it strengthens family bonds, creates hope, and encourages positive behavior inside. It also ensures people have housing and employment support when they come home. Communication improves reentry outcomes, and that makes us all safer. /20
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This week we escalated our campaign against prison profiteer @TomGores, demanding the @NBA force the sale of his @DetroitPistons. Now, I'm fielding Qs about his "commitment to reform." Having spent 10 mos in conversation with Tom and his team, let me put this idea to rest. THREAD
When his name first hit media re: prison telecom corp Securus, Tom claimed he didn’t know it had so many ethical issues. This could worry investors who expect Platinum to diligence investments—but Tom knew. And his brother Alec, owned Securus’ main competitor, GTL, until 2009. /2
Interesting fact, Securus was fined $1.7 million in 2017 for providing misleading information to the FCC for its $1.6 billion acquisition by Tom’s firm Platinum Equity. /3 fcc.gov/document/secur…
This is really infuriating. @GavinNewsom’s decision to veto #SB555, which would have connected families with incarcerated loved ones and lessened their financial burden, was misguided and unconscionable on so many levels. Here’s why.
First and foremost, @GavinNewsom acknowledged that sheriffs siphon money from families by charging egregious rates for jail phone calls and decided it was ok. In fact, he went out of his way to override a decision by the state legislature that it was not. Feel free to stop here.
Vetoes should be the exception not the default.
People elect their representatives to represent them in lengthy and arduous legislative processes and pass important legislation. The CA legislature reviewed SB 555 for two years before passing the bill—with several amendments.
"... history is full of actors justifying bad behavior, or standing by while others do awful things, by saying whatever replaces them would obviously be even worse. It’s a morally untenable justification..."
Yes.
"They are taking a bad company and making it less bad with plans to then spin that company off once it becomes 'the most successful and the most responsible company in the industry.' ... It is an industry that Tom Gores has *chosen* to make himself a part of."
While we’re still talking about the @NBA: A reminder that billionaire @TomGores, owner of the @DetroitPistons, robs Black and Brown families to fund police.
As CEO of @PlatinumEquity he owns @SecurusTech, which charges up to $25 for a 15-min call with an incarcerated loved one.
The corporation then shares the $700 million in revenue it makes annually with the sheriffs and wardens who allow it to exploit the incarcerated people in their facilities and their families and, in turn, use the money to pay for everything from weapons to probation staff.
The worst of this exploitation happens in jails, where the majority of people are still just awaiting trial often because they cannot AFFORD bail.
That’s because counties are dependent on commissions, advocacy is rare at the local level, and the population is transient.
I completely understand that employees want to do something, but it feels like there are other things Amazon (as the corporation) must do before celebrating its charitable giving.
The adage that “you must stop doing harm before you can do good” comes to mind.
For those who don’t know, my father was born in Poland and immigrated to the US in 1980. For Father’s Day, he asked for a history lesson on racism and Black rebellion in the US. We worked backwards from his first question – Does #DefundPolice really mean what I think it means?
"Yes, yes it does. It means abolishing the police," I say.
He responds, "I know that the police don't make Black people feel safe, but they make me feel safe. So what do we do? I need to understand because I can't see where we're going with this."
We covered slavery, slave patrols, Juneteenth, Reconstruction, lynchings, Black codes, convict leasing, the New Deal, redlining, Jim Crow, Brown v Board of Ed, Ruby Bridges, Civil Rights Mvmt, gerrymandering, mass incarceration, stop & frisk, gang databases, BLM, #DefundPolice...