By Xanthe Waters
Capital News Service
When Virginia prison inmates call home, their families pay almost $3 for just one minute of talk time. But advocates for prison reform hope to change that.
A national organization called C.U.R.E. – Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants – is campaigning to reduce the phone rates charged to inmates’ families.
“The family hasn’t done anything wrong,” said Kay Perry of the Equitable Telephone Charges campaign, or eTc. “Prison systems have no right to tax families in that way.”
An inmate in a Virginia prison is limited to 20 minutes of phone calls per day, with rates differing depending on use, according the Virginia Department of Corrections. An interstate collect call has a connection fee of $2.40 and then is charged at 43 cents per minute. Prepaid calls have the connection fee but are charged at 40 cents per minute.
Virginia charges $8.85 for a 15-minute collect interstate call from prison, according to the eTc’s Web site. About half of the states charge less. For example, in Florida the same call would cost $1.82, and in New York, $2.30. At the other end of the scale, 10 states charge $17 or more for a 15-minute collect interstate call.
Larry Traylor, director of communications for Virginia Department of Corrections, said the agency is sympathetic to the plight of inmates’ families.
“We understand family concerns regarding cost and suggest callers budget their phone use. We also suggest that family and friends consider writing letters to inmates which are much less expensive,” Traylor said.
Perry says telephone calls are one of the most important elements while people are in prison.
“Prisons are safer if someone maintains contact,” she said. “They [inmates] work hard to follow rules and want to get out. If they’re detached and constantly worried with their family, it makes it a different situation.”
Perry said several studies have shown that inmates who keep in contact with their families are less likely to reoffend once released.
Prisons in Virginia as well as other states contract with Global Tel*Link, a telephone service that provides a secure phone system at no cost to taxpayers. The service instead charges rates to those who accept calls from inmates.
“It’s a system complete with numerous security features to inhibit the ability of inmates to conduct illegal activities and unwanted calls outside of the facility,” Traylor said.
Along with 42 other state prison systems, Virginia receives profits or commissions from the telephone rates. Traylor said the income helps pay for the recording and monitoring of the conversations.
“It is also used to support the cost of a hot line that allows crime victims to check on the status of offenders in the prison system and to alert the victims if the offender escapes or is released or transferred, again at no cost to taxpayers,” Traylor said.
The eTc campaign is working with legislators to pass laws in states to make it illegal for states to receive commissions on telephone rates and to help expand inmates’ telephone use.
Some states are allowing e-mail use and Internet-based telephone service as alternatives for inmates to keep in contact with others. The Virginia Department of Corrections said it is researching inmate communication options, but security as well as taxpayers’ money will be the deciding factors.
Some Inmates Smuggling Cell Phones
Because of the high cost of calling home, inmates in some states have resorted to smuggling cell phones into prisons.
Inmates may do that because cell phones represent “the only way for them to talk to their families,” said Kay Perry of the Equitable Telephone Charges campaign.
But Virginia prisons have been “very proactive” in preventing cell phone smuggling, said Larry Traylor, director of communications for Virginia Department of Corrections.
He said the department utilizes about a half dozen “cell-phone-sniffing dogs” throughout the prison system.
For more information on the Web, visit:
The Equitable Telephone Charges campaign: www.etccampaign.com
The Virginia chapter of Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants: www.vacure.org
The Virginia Department of Corrections: www.vadoc.state.va.us
Xanthe Waters is a journalism student at Virginia Commonwealth University.
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