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Article • August 1, 2025 • from PLN August, 2025
FCC Backtracks on 2024 Order to Cut Prison Phone and Video Rates by Half by On June 30, the Federal Communications Commission announced a two-year postponement of a rule to lower the price of phone and video calls in prisons and jails. As PLN reported, the FCC voted in 2024 …
Article • July 15, 2025 • from PLN July, 2025
Colorado Passes New Law to Expand Prisoner Visitation Rights by In early May 2025, the Colorado Legislature approved a bill that would increase visitation rights for incarcerated people. Signed into law by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, the bill, HB25-1013, ends a policy in the state in which “inmate social visiting” …
Article • July 15, 2025 • from PLN July, 2025
A Colorado Jail Has Banned In-Person Visits Since the Pandemic by For more than four years, beginning during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Boulder County Jail in Boulder, Colorado has remained closed to in-person visitations. Although prisons have returned to allowing visitors, many jails have yet to re-instate in-person access. At …
Article • January 15, 2025 • from PLN January, 2025
Securus/JPay Video Calling Service Potentially Threatened by New Rate Caps by On November 19, 2024, prison telecom Securus Technologies, Inc., along with subsidiary JPay, notified users of services provided by the firms at prisons and jails of steps being taken to comply with a recent Federal Communications Commission (FCC) order. …
FCC Slashes Prison and Jail Phone Rates, Caps Video Call Cost, Eliminates “Site Commission” Kickbacks by On August 26, 2024, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) published its final rule in the Federal Register, formalizing rulemaking that the agency issued the previous month which significantly reduces the cost of phone and …
Article • July 1, 2024 • from PLN July, 2024
Georgia Sheriff Takes $160,000 Kickback from Pay Tel for Video Visitation by Under contract provisions that went into effect on January 1, 2024, prison telecom giant Pay Tel secured a monopoly on video visitation services at Georgia’s Glynn County Jail. A contract addendum inked in June 2023 says that the …
Publication • 2024
A Look Behind the Screens-Examining the Data Practices of Social Media and Video Streaming Services-FTC Sept. 2024 A Look Behind the Screens Examining the Data Practices of Social Media and Video Streaming Services Federal Trade Commission September 2024 A Look Behind the Screens Examining the Data Practices of Social Media …
Publication • April 1, 2024
Special Report, Visits and Phone Calls, NJ Office of the Corrections Ombudsperson (April 2024) Visits and Phone Calls NJ Office of the Corrections Ombudsperson, Special Report April 2024 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Sustaining relationships with loved ones through a period of incarceration can be difficult, but research suggests that doing so has …
Article • November 15, 2023 • from PLN November, 2023
Filed under: Visiting, Video Visitation
South Carolina Supreme Court Denies Prisoner’s Challenge to DOC Policy Restricting Visitors to People He Knew Before Incarceration by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney On April 5, 2023, the South Carolina Supreme Court affirmed that denying a state prisoner visits from people he didn’t know prior to incarceration did not …
Article • September 15, 2023 • from PLN September, 2023
Filed under: Education, Video Visitation
The Lecturer at the Lockup: Maine Prisoner Is First to Teach College Courses from His Cell by Professor Leo Hylton’s class is like almost every other at Colby College in Maine. Students form a circle with their chairs around their professor. His course on prison abolition – the movement to …
Prolonged COVID-19 Visitation Restrictions Net Georgia Jails Over $1.5 Million in Telecom Kickbacks by Jordan Arizmendi by Jordan Arizmendi According to a report by the Georgia Current on April 14, 2023, jails in several of the state’s coastal counties were still profiting by extending COVID-19 visitation bans, forcing detainees and …
Publication • June 13, 2023
Filed under: Video Visitation
Glynn County Sheriff's Office and Pay Tel Communications, Lnc. Contract, 2023 CONTRACT ADDENDUM BETWEEN THE GLYNN COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE AND PAY TEL COMMUNICATIONS, INC. Pursuant to the contract for telephone services by and between the Glynn County Sheriffs Office and Pay Tel Commun ications. Inc. executed on August 15. 2014. …
Article • September 1, 2021 • from PLN September, 2021
San Diego Jail Approves Free Phone and Video Calls by The County of San Diego Board of Supervisors (Board) voted unanimously February 27, 2021 to stop charging prisoners and detainees in county jails and juvenile detention centers for phone calls. The initiative called for the Board to develop a plan …
Article • June 1, 2021 • from PLN June, 2021
Fourth Circuit Holds Deaf Federal Civilly Committed Sex Offender Has First Amendment Right of Access to Point-to-Point Videocalls in BOP Prison by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On January 13, 2021, the Fourth Circuit court of appeals reversed the judgment of a federal district court which, following a two-day bench …
Article • April 1, 2021 • from PLN April, 2021
Government Refuses to Follow Federal Court’s Discovery Order After Being Caught Recording Attorney Meetings with Prisoners at Leavenworth by Dale Chappell by Dale Chappell In a federal appellate court filing on August 20, 2020, nearly five years after a federal judge ordered officials to stop recording privileged calls between attorneys …
Article • April 1, 2021 • from PLN April, 2021
Michigan Begins Video Visits During Coronavirus Pandemic by David Reutter by David M. Reutter Over six months after concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic halted in-person visitation at Michigan state prisons in March 2020, the state Department of Corrections (DOC) launched a pilot program of video visitation on October 9 to …
Article • April 1, 2021 • from PLN April, 2021
Fourth Circuit: Deaf North Carolina Prisoner Should be Allowed Direct Videophone Calls to Communicate with Deaf Community by David Reutter by David M. Reutter In reversing a district court’s judgment, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered that a deaf prisoner be allowed “access to point-to-point videophone calls because the …
Article • June 1, 2020 • from PLN June, 2020
Prison Officials Limit Prisoner Communications During COVID-19 Crisis by Derek Gilna by Derek Gilna Prisoners struggling to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic — often without masks, sufficient cleaning supplies or the ability to social distance — are crying for help to the outside world by any means possible. Some prison …
Federal Court Orders Videophone Access for Deaf Prisoners in Colorado by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On September 18, 2019, a federal district court ordered the Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC) to provide access to videophones for all of its deaf and hard of hearing prisoners and prisoners who wish …
Article • August 7, 2019 • from PLN August, 2019
Filed under: Video Visitation
Tennessee Prisoners File Lawsuit Challenging Video Visitation Policy at County Jail by Chad Marks by Chad Marks In April 2014, then-Sheriff James “J.J.” Jones implemented a video visitation system at the Knox County, Tennessee jail through a contract with Securus Technologies. The video system coincided with the elimination of in-person …
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