Extorting inmates' families is big business
May 5, 2016 8:53 PM Subscribe
The prison business in America is even better at finding fresh and elaborate ways to fuck people than the porn business is.
posted by turbid dahlia at 9:06 PM on May 5, 2016 [33 favorites]
posted by turbid dahlia at 9:06 PM on May 5, 2016 [33 favorites]
What is it about our culture that makes us feel so good when we treat the most vulnerable and weak so terribly? Even when that is not the actual goal, we are still apparently fine to have awful and counterproductive outcomes as a byproduct, as long as we can pretend we are saving money (making a profit) and punishing criminals.
posted by rtha at 9:13 PM on May 5, 2016 [18 favorites]
posted by rtha at 9:13 PM on May 5, 2016 [18 favorites]
The better to psychologically ruin inmates so they inevitably reoffend.
posted by Mitrovarr at 9:18 PM on May 5, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by Mitrovarr at 9:18 PM on May 5, 2016 [6 favorites]
So I see this billboard on my commute every day . . . $62,300 vs $9,100 means the System is ~7X biased towards putting people away.
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 9:19 PM on May 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 9:19 PM on May 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
This isn't new, this has been going on forever. The American prison system has been based on this for a really long time.
posted by Sphinx at 9:51 PM on May 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Sphinx at 9:51 PM on May 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
Good grief, I didn't even know this was a thing. Horrifying.
posted by unliteral at 9:52 PM on May 5, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by unliteral at 9:52 PM on May 5, 2016 [8 favorites]
Matthew 25:36 and Hebrews 13:3 are quite specific in calling upon Christians to visit those in prison pay exorbitant per-minute fees to a privately held telecommunications company for buggy access to prisoners.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:12 PM on May 5, 2016 [19 favorites]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:12 PM on May 5, 2016 [19 favorites]
sick.
posted by threeants at 10:17 PM on May 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by threeants at 10:17 PM on May 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
yeah huh I can't even pretend to be shocked at the sorts of things I learn about the American prison system anymore
like, I am past the point of applying any sort of limits to what I find plausible in terms of the inhumane treatment that happens routinely
posted by DoctorFedora at 10:18 PM on May 5, 2016 [7 favorites]
like, I am past the point of applying any sort of limits to what I find plausible in terms of the inhumane treatment that happens routinely
posted by DoctorFedora at 10:18 PM on May 5, 2016 [7 favorites]
"I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness. I said CALLED YOU IN RIGHTEOUSNESS. RIGHTEOU- have you tried turning the camera off and on? Okay, lo, I, the LORD, will disonnect and try again." (Kaballaic glyph for Skype "hang up" sound here.)
posted by No-sword at 10:21 PM on May 5, 2016 [24 favorites]
posted by No-sword at 10:21 PM on May 5, 2016 [24 favorites]
Evil and technically incompetent, oh boy.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 11:17 PM on May 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by vibratory manner of working at 11:17 PM on May 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
why blame incompetence rather than malice when it could simply turn out to be both instead
posted by DoctorFedora at 11:19 PM on May 5, 2016 [18 favorites]
posted by DoctorFedora at 11:19 PM on May 5, 2016 [18 favorites]
why blame incompetence rather than malice when it could simply turn out to be both instead
Malice through the looking glass.
posted by Celsius1414 at 11:40 PM on May 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
Malice through the looking glass.
posted by Celsius1414 at 11:40 PM on May 5, 2016 [4 favorites]
buzzman: Texas!
For what it's worth, the article points out several things:
posted by fireoyster at 12:23 AM on May 6, 2016 [13 favorites]
For what it's worth, the article points out several things:
- At 37, Texas has the third-highest number of facilities with these contracts. Indiana (41) and Ohio (40) are first and second.
- Liberal stalwarts Washington and Oregon are tied for fifth with 27 apiece.
- Texas passed a bill (HB 549) in 2015, ahead of California, that imperfectly rolls this back—counties that have incurred "significant costs" aren't required to put in-person visitation back in place...
- ...though Travis County, the main subject of the article, has done so (partially, with extensive restrictions on when, how, and whom; I'd note that rather-conservative Tarrant County has a much more lenient visitation policy).
posted by fireoyster at 12:23 AM on May 6, 2016 [13 favorites]
Oh God. I detest our criminal justice system but when I read about the US prison system it makes me deep down angry in a way I find hard to articulate. I'd only just got over the recent "not solitary as such confinement" FPP and now this. Depriving people of touch is something that was shown to have detrimental effects on humans so fucking long ago it's bizarre that it's even possible to write new policies that not only ignore that fact, people are charged for the deprivation. And hey, growing up with a parent in prison is harmful to children for myriad reasons as it is - anything we could do about that? Why sure! Just make sure they grow up without ever receiving a single cuddle from Mommy or Daddy! Just to guarantee a permanent loss in their life and a hole in their psyche that they probably won't fill with other substances or anything because if they did they might end up behind bars themselves...ah, I see what they did there. Fucking hell please let me off this world.
posted by billiebee at 3:24 AM on May 6, 2016 [11 favorites]
posted by billiebee at 3:24 AM on May 6, 2016 [11 favorites]
What is it about our culture that makes us feel so good when we treat the most vulnerable and weak so terribly?
this is an interesting take on that question
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 4:08 AM on May 6, 2016 [6 favorites]
this is an interesting take on that question
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 4:08 AM on May 6, 2016 [6 favorites]
Aside from the moral issues, which I can't even, a technology stack based on Java and Flash? That's the ultimate in outsourcing responsibility. Keeping either one of those working and secure is tough, so prison admins can happily keep the cash from inmates' families, knowing that — above all — it was Not. Their. Fault.
posted by scruss at 4:17 AM on May 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by scruss at 4:17 AM on May 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
According to open secrets Securus Technologies donated approximately $90,000 in political contributions in 2008 which resulted in the phone contract being approved in Sept 2008.
posted by any major dude at 5:29 AM on May 6, 2016
posted by any major dude at 5:29 AM on May 6, 2016
For-profit prison industry lobbyists influence many of these bills, either directly or indirectly. It is worth noting that, while we did away with the institution of slavery over 150 years ago, we can see the ghost of it in the way we treat workers and prisoners.
posted by JohnFromGR at 5:31 AM on May 6, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by JohnFromGR at 5:31 AM on May 6, 2016 [3 favorites]
One of those lucrative new products is prison email, in which families are charged for digital "stamps."What. In the actual. Fuck.
posted by Etrigan at 5:43 AM on May 6, 2016 [29 favorites]
I couldn't even finish the article it's just so f****** cruel. It's like that experiment with the baby monkeys and the feeding bottle on the wire mother. S***, even Cool Hand Luke got to see his mother in the back of the truck before she died.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:23 AM on May 6, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:23 AM on May 6, 2016 [4 favorites]
Not just Texas - Minnesota! I was pretty shocked.
But then I remembered that Minnesota has a lot of amenities, but it's pretty much the most racially unequal state, or at least financially racially unequal, but I bet that's a proxy for a lot of things. We're pretty liberal, except for being really racist.
But this is the thing about capitalism, it is a total lie. Capitalism is based on taking from the weakest people. You take away their land (enclosure acts, "treaties"), you take away their mineral rights (minerals on tribal land), you take them away if you can do it (slavery, sex trafficking). Is there a population which isn't powerful enough to sue and which has no rich politician protecting them? Take them for everything they are worth - make them pay and pay and pay. Payday loans, bank fees, prison costs, hell, make them pay for prison itself!
It's theft and lies. All the "merit" stuff that people think represents capitalism is really just the superstructure, as it were, on the base of stealing from the weakest.
And this is the way to do it - railroad people into jail, then make their families pay for keeping them there. It's a better racket than just about any of the others.
posted by Frowner at 7:27 AM on May 6, 2016 [4 favorites]
But then I remembered that Minnesota has a lot of amenities, but it's pretty much the most racially unequal state, or at least financially racially unequal, but I bet that's a proxy for a lot of things. We're pretty liberal, except for being really racist.
But this is the thing about capitalism, it is a total lie. Capitalism is based on taking from the weakest people. You take away their land (enclosure acts, "treaties"), you take away their mineral rights (minerals on tribal land), you take them away if you can do it (slavery, sex trafficking). Is there a population which isn't powerful enough to sue and which has no rich politician protecting them? Take them for everything they are worth - make them pay and pay and pay. Payday loans, bank fees, prison costs, hell, make them pay for prison itself!
It's theft and lies. All the "merit" stuff that people think represents capitalism is really just the superstructure, as it were, on the base of stealing from the weakest.
And this is the way to do it - railroad people into jail, then make their families pay for keeping them there. It's a better racket than just about any of the others.
posted by Frowner at 7:27 AM on May 6, 2016 [4 favorites]
So what's worst?
posted by Nelson at 7:47 AM on May 6, 2016
- Video-only visitation policies
- Charging outrageous prices for video visits
- The video visits don't even fucking work
posted by Nelson at 7:47 AM on May 6, 2016
Hillary Clinton, 2016:
posted by klanawa at 8:32 AM on May 6, 2016 [5 favorites]
- End the privatization of prisons. Hillary believes we should move away from contracting out this core responsibility of the federal government to private corporations, and from creating private industry incentives that may contribute—or have the appearance of contributing—to over-incarceration. The campaign does not accept contributions from federally registered lobbyists or PACs for private prison companies, and will donate any such direct contributions to charity.
posted by klanawa at 8:32 AM on May 6, 2016 [5 favorites]
> So I see this billboard on my commute every day . . . $62,300 vs $9,100 means the System is ~7X biased towards putting people away.
You almost couldn't design a better example, it's like an optical illusion - the billboard says the exact opposite thing depending on whether you're buying or selling.
posted by lucidium at 8:40 AM on May 6, 2016
You almost couldn't design a better example, it's like an optical illusion - the billboard says the exact opposite thing depending on whether you're buying or selling.
posted by lucidium at 8:40 AM on May 6, 2016
Shall I hold my breath?
Well, considering that there would be a substantial federalism question about the President unilaterally deciding to ban states from using private prisons, I would say that you should probably not hold your breath.
posted by tobascodagama at 8:41 AM on May 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
Well, considering that there would be a substantial federalism question about the President unilaterally deciding to ban states from using private prisons, I would say that you should probably not hold your breath.
posted by tobascodagama at 8:41 AM on May 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
It is worth noting that, while we did away with the institution of slavery over 150 years ago, we can see the ghost of it in the way we treat workers and prisoners.
It's not a ghost at all. Slavery never died, it just moved into more explicit prisons. There have been several FPPs on the subject.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 9:13 AM on May 6, 2016 [4 favorites]
It's not a ghost at all. Slavery never died, it just moved into more explicit prisons. There have been several FPPs on the subject.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 9:13 AM on May 6, 2016 [4 favorites]
This is going to mess prisoners up big time. Don't people realize that these prisoners are going to re-enter regular society at some point? This is such a dumb, short-sighted, cruel, inhumane, and outrageously greedy and petty idea. It's bad for prisoners, and it's bad for everyone else, too, except the people making money off it.
posted by gehenna_lion at 11:34 AM on May 6, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by gehenna_lion at 11:34 AM on May 6, 2016 [2 favorites]
why blame incompetence rather than malice when it could simply turn out to be both instead
Malice through the looking glass.
Malice in blunderland.
posted by museum of fire ants at 11:45 AM on May 6, 2016
Malice through the looking glass.
Malice in blunderland.
posted by museum of fire ants at 11:45 AM on May 6, 2016
gehenna_lion... they'd have to see them as people for that to have an effect, instead of seeing them as subhuman profit centres.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 12:13 PM on May 6, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 12:13 PM on May 6, 2016 [3 favorites]
I would support, financially that is, any efforts to sabotage these companies into oblivion.
posted by ergomatic at 11:12 PM on May 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by ergomatic at 11:12 PM on May 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
Back in the late 80s / early 90s, my dad owned a company that installed the collect-call phone systems in jails (in Minnesota, mostly at the county level). I wrote the billing and reporting software for it (in FoxPro!). His company was eventually acquired by a bigger player, which may very well be one of those big players in the article now (or was probably consumed by them). Sometimes I wonder if that code I wrote still lives on in some form. I hope not.
I really have no recollection of what the pricing was like back then, but I do know that one of the ways that companies competed for the contracts to install these systems was in how much of the revenue was paid in commissions to the sheriff's department. Which I see now is still the case. This is another example of this ugly construction of a criminal justice system that has its funding built on those accused (and convicted) of crimes, rather than general tax revenue, which creates really grotesque incentives.
posted by jimw at 11:54 PM on May 6, 2016 [3 favorites]
I really have no recollection of what the pricing was like back then, but I do know that one of the ways that companies competed for the contracts to install these systems was in how much of the revenue was paid in commissions to the sheriff's department. Which I see now is still the case. This is another example of this ugly construction of a criminal justice system that has its funding built on those accused (and convicted) of crimes, rather than general tax revenue, which creates really grotesque incentives.
posted by jimw at 11:54 PM on May 6, 2016 [3 favorites]
The awful thing is, telecommunications advances should be a great thing for keeping families in contact with their loved ones in prison. Email as an asyncronous way of getting in contact despite noncooperative schedules? Video providing more frequent close contact than some people can afford to provide by actually traveling to their loved ones at remote prisons? Those would be great! If only we implemented them with an eye towards keeping convicts engaged in social fabric and invested in straightening out their lives, rather than seeing how much cash we can wring out of them.
posted by jackbishop at 1:03 PM on May 7, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by jackbishop at 1:03 PM on May 7, 2016 [2 favorites]
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posted by clavdivs at 9:02 PM on May 5, 2016