Monthly Archives: February 2017

The High Cost Of Calling

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One of the ways that inmates stay in touch with their friends and family is by making phone calls. There are some companies that offer calls at a reasonable rate. Global Tel Link is not one of those companies. The business has recently had to face the high cost that is associated with the services that are offered. There is a $25 fee that is paid when an account is set up, and each call requires money on the account. According to globaltellinkreviews.com, most calls are about $7. In some areas, you might see that the first minute is about $4 with the remainder of the minutes on the call being close to $1. One phone call that takes 10 minutes could run over $10.

in report by Consumer Affairs, the Federal Communications Commission is finally looking at the high rates that are charged by prison calling systems. Jails and prisons usually choose a company based on the commission that the facility will receive. They don’t really care about the money that the inmate’s family has to pay. All they care about is the money that they will make from the calls, and Global Tel-Link is one of the most popular because it often charges the highest amount. This means that the facility will get more money. To read more, go to topclassactions.com.

Keefe Group Offers Quality Services for Correctional Facilities

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Keefe group and its subsidiaries the Keefe Supplies, Keefe Commissary Network, Access Corrections, Access Securepak, Advanced Technologies Group, and IC Solutions has been offering communication services and high-quality goods to correction facilities since 1975. Keefe Group ranks as the nation’s top service provider for food supplies, personal care items, clothes and sanitation, technology, and telecommunication services for prisoners.

Keefe Group developed the industry through tailoring its products, technology, and packaging to suit the demands of detainees. Every department at Keefe Group commits to the corporate objective of delivering high-quality solutions tailored to suit the unique needs of clients. Keefe Group commits to exceeding customer expectation. Through Keefe Group, inmates enjoy the following services;

  • Footwear provision
  • Financial services
  • Beauty Supplies
  • Snacks supplies
  • Prison Management System
  • Money sending to recipients
  • Video visitation services
  • Inmate Management Systems

According to Mr. Jackson Jambalaya, http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2014/11/prisoners-are-money-keefe-404-million-g.html, a news commentary in the Mississippi area, the Keefe Group signed a contract with the MDOC through the Keefe Commissary Network. The contract commenced on November 5, 2008, with several renewals over the years. In 2011, the contract was renewed and will expire on 31 August 2015. Keefe Group paid a commission of 29.4 % to the state-operated sales authorities within correctional facilities to seal the deal. Keefe Group subtracted 10% of all the sales made through visitation bags. The contracts were signed and sealed by Chris Epps, the then Prison Commissioner. According to the contract, Keefe Group was responsible for;

  • Inmate’s deposits processing
  • Prepaid debit cards trade and prisoners trust funds processing
  • Total rights to market MP3 players to prisoners
  • Full rights to market music download at lower prices to prisoners
  • Exclusive rights to sell commissary items like food, personal sanitary products, and tobacco.

Cecil McCrory was the owner of G.T Enterprises before it was sold to Keefe Group in 2008. The MDOC Deal commenced on June 1st, 2006 after its amendment in 2007 to allow GT Enterprise to trade commissary items at the Walnut Grove Youth Prison. To read more about the company, visit the Tampa Bay Times website.

 

 

Securus Reaches a Milestone With 30 Million VoIP Inmate Calls That Could Help Families

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The inmate communications industry is quite successful at the moment. It gives families the opportunity to talk to their loved ones. One of the most successful companies is Securus. Securus just broke a record as it helped transmit 30 million inmate calls using voice over internet protocol.

 

Richard A. Smith who is the Chief Executive Officer of Securus Technologies was ecstatic about this major milestone that his company just reached. In fact, he said the following:

 

“The significance of having all of our inmates and friends/family members using the same state-of-the-art VoIP platform cannot be emphasized enough.”

 

Smith went on to explain the goal of the voice over internet protocol system that Securus enacted recently by saying the following:

 

“The key to achieving a low cost structure in telecommunications is taking advantage of massive economies of scale – that means large platforms, redundancy of data centers, cloud computing and storage, using the internet (internet telephony) to the maximum extent possible, efficient computer languages, and management of troubles remotely through a Network Operations Center (NOC). We use all of these proven high-tech methods to allow inmates to maintain their relationships via audio and video calling.”

 

The goal, it seems, was to help inmates, families, and the company itself. This type of communication is set to give families an opportunity to pay a lot less than before. This could not have come at a better time since many FCC officials have been critical of companies like Securus due to unnecessarily high rates.

 

Securus is hoping that this technology will be fully embraced by its customers since they will benefit from it. For one, many families will be able to see each other during a call. There is no doubt that this kind of technology is going to make a difference for the millions who need to stay in touch with incarcerated loved ones.

Global Tel-Link Hopes new Inmate Telephone Platform will Bring Families Closer

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There are two big corporations that lead the inmate communication industry; one company is Global Tel-Link and the other is Securus. Global Tel-Link is the one celebrating a milestone in the industry at the moment since it just released its new inmate communication platform. Securus released its platform a while back, but Global Tel-Link wanted to workout all the possible issues in BETA before actually releasing the system to its customers.

 

This was something that Global Tel-Link wanted to do for its customers for a very long time. Eric Gonzales, who is the company’s Executive Director of Product Management for Inmate Telephones at GTL was the spokesperson for this release.

 

He expressed his joy and the company’s excitement over the release while also stating the following:

 

“Today people expect to be able to access everything on a smartphone or a tablet, whether it’s shopping, banking, trading stocks, or even setting their thermostat. Now our corrections customers can operate and administer our inmate phone system from any location with any wireless device and have all of the same security they expect when accessing our system from within their facility.”

 

It seems like Global Tel-Link understood the growing hunger customers had for their services and needed to upgrade. Most businesses are taking advantage of the digital age. Everyone uses smart devices to communicate with loved ones. It is cost-effective and simply more accessible.

 

This new platform is set to take the entire industry by storm. Families are excited to talk to their loved ones using VoIP services or through video chats that will only help them feel closer to each other. Global Tel-Link hopes that this will encourage more families to stay connected and that it will aid in the overall rehabilitation of the inmates in the prisons where these individuals reside.

 

The new communication rates being enjoyed by inmates

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Inmate’s telephone rates have been overcharged for some time now. Many agencies have been coming up in different ways to create awareness about the problems being faced by inmates all over the country. Few firms are offering this service, and they have been ganging up to hike their prices. The main reason for doing so is to achieve high-profit margin.

 

Most inmates do not have a broad range of choices when in prison. A good number of them can only enjoy the service by prepaid account and debit account. FCC is now working with other stakeholders to put in place more reasonable rates for inmates. Many people have not been able to communicate with their loved ones because of the prices earlier put in place. This has affected many people especially kids whose parents have been imprisoned.

 

FCC has been able to put in place more reasonable rates that a wide range of people can afford without getting into debt. The communication has been categories into two, local calls and long distance calls. For those individuals who call people located around the region will have to pay lower rates.

 

People with communication disabilities have been well catered for by the new regulations put in place. The use of text telephones has been made more affordable to users. Inmates can now save a lot of money while using the services since service providers have been limited the amount of cash they can charge.

 

In cases where you are not satisfied with the service being offered by the service provider, there are many channels available at the moment where people can air out their problems. Keeping in mind, a good fraction of states have the same rules when it comes to inmates this apply to a good portion of the country.

 

https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/inmate-telephone-service

 

How Inmate Communications Promotes Harmony in Prisons

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Facilitation of inmate communications is a mandate of every prison facility and a topic that has had many prison officials scratching their heads. Not only was the communication infrastructure expensive, monitoring of calls was a problem not to forget the below-par quality of the calls. However, this is a talk of the past as today the atmosphere around prison communications has improved immensely.

 

Today every incarceration facility understands that part of maintaining harmony within the inmates is ensuring they get connected to the family and friends. Thus the introduction of prison phone call services and also the sale of phone cards to inmates to facilitate their keeping in touch with loved ones. Once infrastructure was not an issue, the next mandate was to regulate prison call rates which were at an all-time high.

 

The Federal Communications Commission in America has taken upon itself the task of introducing a price ceiling to prison calls. Before this price cap making calls to and out of prisons was a nightmare with inmates and their loved ones being charge an alarming $14 a minute. But the FCC stepped in and introduced regulations, one of them being pricing a 15 minute call for at most $1.65. This not only eased things up for the inmates, but prison communication service companies had to rethink their strategies if they are to maintain profit margins.

 

Soon enough video visitation service was introduced into the picture, making things even better. It is certainly heartwarming to be able to smile back at your daughter or father as you hold a real time video conversation. Companies like Securus Technologies have taken it a notch higher by introducing prison to home video call services at any time of the day.

 

Inmate communications is at the core of maintaining harmony and order within incarceration facilities. For this reason, prison management is mandated to introduce affordable and quality communication services and always look for ways to improve such services, much to the appreciation of inmates and their loved ones.

 

 

Searchable Voice Added To Investigator Pro 4.0

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Securus Technologies latest technology, Investigator Pro 4.0, has already received a bit of an upgrade. When Investigator Pro 4.0 was first released it allowed facilities the ability to track phone calls either coming into or leaving a facility. Flag phone calls made by the same inmate to separate parties, flag phone calls made by an outside source to different inmates inside the same facility, and alert investigators if a person of interest inside the facility is receiving phone calls from different sources.

 

Now Investigator Pro is getting an upgrade with the Searchable Voice technology. This new technology allows investigators to sample voice clips of inmates or persons calling the facility and use the voice clips to search over the call database and link the voice sample to other calls made or received by an inmate or outside caller. This added technology will enable investigators to answer questions, such as: “Is a current inmate in contact with released inmates?”, ” Are other images speaking with the same party?”, and they can find out if the party calling was ever an incarcerated person.

 

Investigator Pro 4.0 with Searchable Voice will help investigators stay ahead of any questionable activity and investigate crimes quicker. Securus Technologies are based in Dallas, Texas, and is committed to the safety of inmates and staff through biometric analysis, emergency response, information management, incident management, investigation, and inmate self service. Securus technology is available at over 3400 facilities and they help over 1,200,000 inmates across the nation.

 

Legacy Launches an All-Inclusive Communication Device

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A leading communication provider for the corrections industry, Legacy Inmate Communication, announced their latest communication platform, Bridge Communication Device -BCD-. The device will revolutionize the correction industry as it will allow inmates to access communication services. The platform will have video visitation, voicemail, email and video messages. It will also have additional services such as a law library, automated inmate information system, commissary interface and kite request.

 

 

The technology will be available at a low cost and will combine all the inmates’ services into one cheap, versatile device. Bridge Communication Device will be mounted on the wall. It has a small 10-inch touchscreen that will be used for communication. The display is impressive with high definition and an aspect ratio of 16:9 designed for video visits, messages, operation services, and purchases.

 

 

The Bridge device will allow all Legacy communication services to be on a single device. This technology that Legacy has announced is likely to replace the telephones because it serves as phone but with more added services than a telephone.

 

 

The device is perfect for all the facilities from the local police department to DOCs. Bridge Communication Device will be crucial to any correction facility as it will enable communication to be more controlled. The officers will have plenty of investigating opportunities to further improve the security in jails. BCD is not only beneficial to inmates, but the correctional facilities will also have an opportunity to generate revenues.

 

 

Legacy promises to give favorable rates to families and friends of inmates and better customer services. The technology will complement all parties involved, and inmate reoffending will be reduced.

 

 

The advantages that Bridge Communication Device will offer is without a doubt plenty. The main distinct advantage, however, Legacy is giving an integrated technology that is new, and incorporates all the services needed into one device. This technology is without a doubt going to transform communication in the correction facilities.