US inmate phone systems.

[NW Admin]

Okay, so I personally have experience with the US prison system. Not because I was in prison, but a loved one was there for many years.

One thing that I think is absolutely ridiculous and a rip off is the inmate phone system. It's been a heated topic for a long time. So much so that there have been lawsuits and new legislation passed in certain states. Even so, the rules that govern the operation of the inmate phone are worthless and need to be changed.

First of all, in most states, only ONE company is allowed a contract with the state's prison system. This forces inmates and those receiving their calls to deal with whatever that company throws at them. They have NO OPTIONS or alternatives. This would be ok if you were dealing with a decent company that provided good service. However, that is not the case.

While taking calls from an inmate over a 9 year period, the contract for Ohio changed hands twice that I can remember. Initially the contract was with MCI and then transfered to Global TelLink.

I dealt with horrendous service. Calls were constantly dropped, call quality was horrible and it was hard to hear, the phones inside the prison didn't work half the time, the automated phone system options didn't work correctly, hold time would often exceeed 2 hours just to disconnect you after all that time, payments were not applied correctly or "lost", the process to prove you made a payment was ridiculous and took several weeks, and the worst part... the calls were nightmarishly expensive.

And the sad part was that I was FORCED to do business with these people. There were no other alternatives. The prison has blocked any sort of other possible option to get the call through.

The amount of complaints about this on the internet are outrageous. I wrote the governor of Ohio a while back about this. That was pretty much worthless. He wrote me back and told me he was forwarding my letter to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Okay, so that does me no good because I already complained to them. The FBP sent me a letter back stating that they investigated my claim, no issues were found, and that there had not been any other complaints. That is such a bunch of garbage.

I am lucky, I no longer have to take calls from prison anymore, but I sure feel bad for those who do. It really is a nightmare.