MommaHen
07-07-2003, 01:09 PM
Carol Arnold from OKC KOMA 1520, really had done her home work. (We didn’t speak before I went on the air.) I was very nervous as I haven’t done a live radio interview before. I hope listeners will call and thank her for having an open forum for the problems of families regarding the phone rates. She also repeatedly stated that she was interest in this because it hurts the children the most.
She advised listeners that they had asked Jerry Massie DOC’s, Public Information Officer to come on the air, but he had refused. She wanted to know what part of public information officer he didn’t understand. She also wanted to know who the Chair of the Corrections committee was that refused to hear the families phone bill (HB1552), which would have stop the state from making a profit off the families. I advised it was Ron Kirby from Lawton and that he had introduced his own bill. It didn’t say anything about the fees the families have to pay, but would require phones that took fingerprints and pictures of inmates as they make their phone calls. (Both of which the state already has)
Some of the things I talked about were that DOC ended up with $700,000 at the end of the fiscal year, but that I felt the money had come from 2 different groups of families. The staff that were forced to take furlough days and the families of offenders that are forced to pay the high rates from phone calls. (DOC receives the money every month from the phone companies.)
I gave information from the Inmate Phone Charge Interim Study which was sponsored by Representative Jim Newport from Ponca City. The information was given by DOC, AT&T, SWB, T-Netix and myself.
DOC receives 45% of the phone charge and if DOC wasn’t receiving the commission there would be a savings of 45% of most of the phone charges.
Also some people believe that the OK. Corporation Commission sets the rates but they haven’t had anything to do with the rates charged by the prisons, since about the time private prisons came into the state.
Most of the rest of the information came from a summary of the AT&T and SWBT contracts with DOC. (please check out the rule on disputes regarding the phone bills in the AT&T contract, 1st time we had heard of that)
P11 3.22 DOC audit the phone company
P21 4.3.5 AT&T paid DOC $250,000 signing bonus (kickback)
P23 4.11 Signing Bonus in addition to Commission to be paid
P25 5.2 System requirements
P26 5.3 Commission paid directly to DOC’s Parent Canteen Board
P31 5.10 Call Management
5.10.4 Dispute handling for families “The Contractor shall endeavor to handle billing disputes in an equitable manner. Disputes that cannot be resolved to the satisfaction of the call recipient must be brought to the attention of an Arbitrator to be designated by DOC. The Arbitrator will determine how much, if any, of the disputed charges may be billed by the Contractor. Any excess must be forgiven by the Contractor."
P32 5.12.1 Commission paid direct to DOC’s Parent Canteen Board
P35 5.14.3 Contact Charge
P60 Appends E Commission Rate (no reduction on this Commission Rate will be made without express written agreement of DOC)
SWBT
P1 #3 all cost shall be borne by SWBT
#4 SWBT pay DOC 33% of true gross bill to DOC’s Parent Canteen Board
P2 #7d DOC responsible to pay for equipment only if damage or destroyed by DOC
P4 #5 #6 Operational Requirements
If you want to know more about what is happening in the other states regarding the families phone calls visit this site. http://www.curenational.org/~etc/
Lynn Powell, President OK CURE
http://home.earthlink.net/~okcure/
Today's Inmate is Tomorrow's Neighbor
It figures that ODOC would not return calls and refuses to do their job concerning public information. Think about the savings if things were to be regulated properly 45% of you phone costs that would cut phone bills damn near in half.
She advised listeners that they had asked Jerry Massie DOC’s, Public Information Officer to come on the air, but he had refused. She wanted to know what part of public information officer he didn’t understand. She also wanted to know who the Chair of the Corrections committee was that refused to hear the families phone bill (HB1552), which would have stop the state from making a profit off the families. I advised it was Ron Kirby from Lawton and that he had introduced his own bill. It didn’t say anything about the fees the families have to pay, but would require phones that took fingerprints and pictures of inmates as they make their phone calls. (Both of which the state already has)
Some of the things I talked about were that DOC ended up with $700,000 at the end of the fiscal year, but that I felt the money had come from 2 different groups of families. The staff that were forced to take furlough days and the families of offenders that are forced to pay the high rates from phone calls. (DOC receives the money every month from the phone companies.)
I gave information from the Inmate Phone Charge Interim Study which was sponsored by Representative Jim Newport from Ponca City. The information was given by DOC, AT&T, SWB, T-Netix and myself.
DOC receives 45% of the phone charge and if DOC wasn’t receiving the commission there would be a savings of 45% of most of the phone charges.
Also some people believe that the OK. Corporation Commission sets the rates but they haven’t had anything to do with the rates charged by the prisons, since about the time private prisons came into the state.
Most of the rest of the information came from a summary of the AT&T and SWBT contracts with DOC. (please check out the rule on disputes regarding the phone bills in the AT&T contract, 1st time we had heard of that)
P11 3.22 DOC audit the phone company
P21 4.3.5 AT&T paid DOC $250,000 signing bonus (kickback)
P23 4.11 Signing Bonus in addition to Commission to be paid
P25 5.2 System requirements
P26 5.3 Commission paid directly to DOC’s Parent Canteen Board
P31 5.10 Call Management
5.10.4 Dispute handling for families “The Contractor shall endeavor to handle billing disputes in an equitable manner. Disputes that cannot be resolved to the satisfaction of the call recipient must be brought to the attention of an Arbitrator to be designated by DOC. The Arbitrator will determine how much, if any, of the disputed charges may be billed by the Contractor. Any excess must be forgiven by the Contractor."
P32 5.12.1 Commission paid direct to DOC’s Parent Canteen Board
P35 5.14.3 Contact Charge
P60 Appends E Commission Rate (no reduction on this Commission Rate will be made without express written agreement of DOC)
SWBT
P1 #3 all cost shall be borne by SWBT
#4 SWBT pay DOC 33% of true gross bill to DOC’s Parent Canteen Board
P2 #7d DOC responsible to pay for equipment only if damage or destroyed by DOC
P4 #5 #6 Operational Requirements
If you want to know more about what is happening in the other states regarding the families phone calls visit this site. http://www.curenational.org/~etc/
Lynn Powell, President OK CURE
http://home.earthlink.net/~okcure/
Today's Inmate is Tomorrow's Neighbor
It figures that ODOC would not return calls and refuses to do their job concerning public information. Think about the savings if things were to be regulated properly 45% of you phone costs that would cut phone bills damn near in half.