Prison Phones Generate Less Money Than Hoped
Texas prisoners have made and received more than 4.7 million telephone calls and sent and received 1.8 million e-mails since 2009, when the state became the last in the nation to allow inmates phone and e-mail access.
The calls and messages haven’t added up to much in the way of revenue, though. The $6 million the inmate phone and messaging system generated for the state, according to information obtained under Texas open records law, is far less than the tens of millions of dollars some lawmakers had hoped to realize. And it’s smaller even than more ...
Comments (8)
Sandrine Ageorges-Skinner
If TDCJ had a real phone policy, as do the other States in the country, the phone revenue would be greater. It's a misleading farce to tell the public that prisoners have access to the phone while they are only allowed to call the 10 people approved on their visitors' list, while the purpose of this policy is to facilitate and encourage family ties, the current rules truly defeat the object. If one cannot call family members and friends who live to far to visit, what's the point...
karen henry
Good story, but one major misconception regarding email. TDCJ offenders CAN NOT send an email. The family members may use a site called Jpay to send an email to an offender, but the offender can not respond via email. Offenders still have to write letters via us post office.
TDCJ could loosen up some of the rules like phone calls to cell phones. The argument that tdcj couldn't police the calls, like they can when the calls are sent to phones lines, is rather mute, considering the fact that all calls from the pay phones are recorded. If an inmates might conduct illegal business via the pay phones, then hey... they have the whole transaction recorded and that makes for easy prosecution.
The other issue is how few phone lines are actually in the day rooms. The inmates often have to stand in a long line in order to use the phone. They are like the rest of us who hate to stand in line and often will give up. More phones would mean more access, which would mean more calls, more money, etc. Also increase the length of total time the offenders currently they can only call a total of 240 minutes a month, that would also increase the revenue.
Brandi Grissom
Thanks for the helpful feedback, Karen and Sandrine.
Sandrine Ageorges-Skinner
Thank you Brandi for your article and my best wishes to you for this New Year. One important thing I forgot to mention, the current policy bars prisoners in ad seg from phone "privileges". Death row prisoners are confined in ad seg not for any disciplinary violations but merely because of the nature of their sentence; they should be allowed phone privileges, at least level I prisoners who are considered "well behaved". Do you know that death row prisoners in California have access to the phone (the phone is brought to their cells) 2 hours/day? (without mentioning they have contact visits, an unlimited number of visitors on their list that can be updated at leisure, group rec, quaterly packages, etc...) And California has close to 700 people on death row, CDC manages it, why can''t TDCJ do the same? Go figure...
kim lutes
It would be really nice if TDC would allow inmates to make international calls because my husband's only family is me and I am in Canada. Imagine not only not being able to visit because he is 2,000 miles away but not being able to speak with him either. If it is in an offender’s best interest to build and maintain relationships with family and friends, how then does this system help my husband when he is not allowed to communicate with the one person who loves him more than anything?
art knowles
It never ceases to amaze me how backward The Texas Prison system is. And how do THE PEOPLE OF TEXAS allow human beings te be treated the way the TDCJ treats inmates. The mis-information about phone calls is just one more example.
As lady from Canada said she can't get calls from her husband because Texas won't allow international calls. I can't talk to my fiance' because she can't call my cell phone. In other words,"It's ok to call your friendsand relative's if ; they live in this country, happen to have the right kind of phone, can pay a half-a-buck a minute, can stand in line for up to 45 minutes, are one of the 10 people on a call list that can only be added to every 3 months and on and on. Gee... just think, I could call my fiance if I wasn't one of the 340,000,000 people who has ONLY a cell phone.
Oh... You can't get married in a Yexas prison either. NOW that's what i call rehabilitation!
art knowles
It never ceases to amaze me how backward The Texas Prison system is. And how do THE PEOPLE OF TEXAS allow human beings to be treated the way the T D C J treats inmates. Does anybody in Texas care!
The misinformation about phone calls is just one more example.
As lady from Canada said she can't get calls from her husband because Texas won't allow international calls. I can't talk to my fiance' because she can't call my cell phone. In other words,"It's ok to call your friends and relative's if ; they live in this country, happen to have the right kind of phone, can pay a half-a-buck a minute plus outrageous 3rd party charges, can stand in line for up to 45 minutes, are one of the 10 people on a call list that can only be added to every 3 months and on and on. Gee... just think, I could call my fiance if I wasn't one of the 340,000,000 people who has ONLY a cell phone.
Oh... You can't get married in a Texas prison either. NOW that's what I call rehabilitation!
kim lutes
I've said it before and I will say it again: What would be an absolute blessing is if the 480 minutes went along with allowing international calls so that I could speak with my husband. It seems that all this BS TDC talks about how it is very important for inmates to receive visits and make phone calls to their families only applies to those that have family in the United States. Phone calls are a privilige not a right they say. An offender has to be on their unit of assignment for 90 days, not have any disciplinary violations within the last 90 days, be engaged in full-time work, school or treatment and have the person being called listed on their approved visitor list. What about my husband? He has been on his unit for more than 90 days, he works fulltime loading and unloading heavy boxes even with a herniated disk in his neck. He has never been written up one time not even for a minor case and I am on his visitor's list. Yes, we did receive a 5 minute phone call a few weeks back but now we have to wait another 3 months to get another 5 minute phone call becasue TDC won't allow him to call the only family he has simply because I live in Canada and not the good ole USA! Am I angry? You bet your a** I am. Does my husband deserve not to speak to his family? You bet your a** he doesn't. I pay for the calls so what is the difference to TDC if he calls Texas, Idaho, outer Slobovia or Canada. It's on my dime.