Kerch
09-23-2003, 03:15 PM
[copied from Newsday 9/22/03]
An Expense They Can't Afford
Prisoners' relatives bemoan cost of calls
By Zachary R. Dowdy
STAFF WRITER
September 22, 2003
About 140 miles separates Ann in East Northport from her husband, Patrick, in the maximum-security Sullivan Correctional Facility in upstate Fallsburg where he is serving a long sentence.
Ann calls the telephone the couple's "lifeline," but communication in their high-maintenance relationship comes at a price - about $8 for a 30-minute collect call, the only kind a prisoner is allowed to make. They talk several times a week.
"We get charged outrageous prices," said Ann, who asked that her last name not be used, fearing her husband will be punished for her speaking out. "The phone is our main connection," she said, adding that her phone calls force her to choose between nourishing her relationship and affording food.
Ann joins a growing chorus of prisoners' families across the state who demand legislators and the state Department of Correctional Services change the phone contract, which they say exploits poor families.
"We want to stop the contract because it represents a disregard [for the families] and an almost tyrannical profiteering," said Kym Clark, criminal justice organizer for the Prison Families Community Forum, a New York City-based group.
Under a contract with MCI, New York collects 57.5 percent of every collect call placed from state prisons, about 500,000 each month, in an arrangement similar to those in dozens of other states. The state Department of Correctional Services garners about $22 million annually from the program. Between 1996 and 2001, the state culled about $109 million, said a 2002 audit by the state comptroller.
Even a rate change that started last week isn't much help, critics say. MCI's rate changes will redistribute the costs of staying in touch, providing some relief.
Calls for people who live near the prisons where loved ones are held, upstate communities where almost all state prisons are located, will be costlier while calls for those living downstate will drop slightly. MCI spokeswoman Natasha Haubold said a 10-minute collect call placed from a maximum-security prison at the new rate starting today will be $4.60 while a collect call placed from outside a prison costs $4.14.
The main pending change would eradicate toll charges calculated by distance but retain a $3 surcharge for all collect calls from prison. It also would add a 16-cent per minute toll charge for calls placed to or from anywhere in the state.
State and MCI officials justify the higher costs of the inmate calls, saying the money, in part, pays to maintain sophisticated security measures that allow calls from the prison to be monitored and screened to prevent harassment by inmates, avert scams conducted from prisons and collect intelligence on crimes.
State Sen. Michael Nozzolio (R-Seneca Falls) said the higher costs are warranted and that prisoners should pay more toward their incarceration. "We have been trying for years to get inmates to pay their fair share," he said. "This phone program is a small part of that issue and whatever small revenue that is generated is more than made up for by the cost of programs for inmates."
James Flateau, a spokesman for the department, said the revenue generated from the contract is applied to prisoner support programs such as busing and visiting for families and medical parole. It also helps pay for health expenses, such as AIDS medication, he said.
A lawsuit filed three years ago by the Manhattan-based Center for Constitutional Rights says New York gets more money from the phone system than any other state.
Clark said families of prisoners from Long Island, New York City and upstate have teamed up in a drive to change the system. Their campaign, called "Stop the Contract," is pushing for families to be allowed to choose among providers, rather than letting one company have a monopoly, and to convince state officials to eliminate or reduce its commission.
The high charges could be reduced, Clark said, if, for instance, inmates were allowed to use calling cards or a remote call-forwarding feature, which allows an inmate to call a local phone number that forwards the call across the state.
Some prisoners have tried to avoid high-priced calls that way, but correction officials threatened disciplinary action, including solitary confinement.
"Because the prisons are so far away, the families who live on Long Island find it difficult to have contact with loved ones other than through the phone," said Barbara Allan, executive director of Prison Families Anonymous, an advocacy group in North Babylon. "Since we know families are the major source for a successful reintegration [after inmates are released] it's important that they stay in contact."
An Expense They Can't Afford
Prisoners' relatives bemoan cost of calls
By Zachary R. Dowdy
STAFF WRITER
September 22, 2003
About 140 miles separates Ann in East Northport from her husband, Patrick, in the maximum-security Sullivan Correctional Facility in upstate Fallsburg where he is serving a long sentence.
Ann calls the telephone the couple's "lifeline," but communication in their high-maintenance relationship comes at a price - about $8 for a 30-minute collect call, the only kind a prisoner is allowed to make. They talk several times a week.
"We get charged outrageous prices," said Ann, who asked that her last name not be used, fearing her husband will be punished for her speaking out. "The phone is our main connection," she said, adding that her phone calls force her to choose between nourishing her relationship and affording food.
Ann joins a growing chorus of prisoners' families across the state who demand legislators and the state Department of Correctional Services change the phone contract, which they say exploits poor families.
"We want to stop the contract because it represents a disregard [for the families] and an almost tyrannical profiteering," said Kym Clark, criminal justice organizer for the Prison Families Community Forum, a New York City-based group.
Under a contract with MCI, New York collects 57.5 percent of every collect call placed from state prisons, about 500,000 each month, in an arrangement similar to those in dozens of other states. The state Department of Correctional Services garners about $22 million annually from the program. Between 1996 and 2001, the state culled about $109 million, said a 2002 audit by the state comptroller.
Even a rate change that started last week isn't much help, critics say. MCI's rate changes will redistribute the costs of staying in touch, providing some relief.
Calls for people who live near the prisons where loved ones are held, upstate communities where almost all state prisons are located, will be costlier while calls for those living downstate will drop slightly. MCI spokeswoman Natasha Haubold said a 10-minute collect call placed from a maximum-security prison at the new rate starting today will be $4.60 while a collect call placed from outside a prison costs $4.14.
The main pending change would eradicate toll charges calculated by distance but retain a $3 surcharge for all collect calls from prison. It also would add a 16-cent per minute toll charge for calls placed to or from anywhere in the state.
State and MCI officials justify the higher costs of the inmate calls, saying the money, in part, pays to maintain sophisticated security measures that allow calls from the prison to be monitored and screened to prevent harassment by inmates, avert scams conducted from prisons and collect intelligence on crimes.
State Sen. Michael Nozzolio (R-Seneca Falls) said the higher costs are warranted and that prisoners should pay more toward their incarceration. "We have been trying for years to get inmates to pay their fair share," he said. "This phone program is a small part of that issue and whatever small revenue that is generated is more than made up for by the cost of programs for inmates."
James Flateau, a spokesman for the department, said the revenue generated from the contract is applied to prisoner support programs such as busing and visiting for families and medical parole. It also helps pay for health expenses, such as AIDS medication, he said.
A lawsuit filed three years ago by the Manhattan-based Center for Constitutional Rights says New York gets more money from the phone system than any other state.
Clark said families of prisoners from Long Island, New York City and upstate have teamed up in a drive to change the system. Their campaign, called "Stop the Contract," is pushing for families to be allowed to choose among providers, rather than letting one company have a monopoly, and to convince state officials to eliminate or reduce its commission.
The high charges could be reduced, Clark said, if, for instance, inmates were allowed to use calling cards or a remote call-forwarding feature, which allows an inmate to call a local phone number that forwards the call across the state.
Some prisoners have tried to avoid high-priced calls that way, but correction officials threatened disciplinary action, including solitary confinement.
"Because the prisons are so far away, the families who live on Long Island find it difficult to have contact with loved ones other than through the phone," said Barbara Allan, executive director of Prison Families Anonymous, an advocacy group in North Babylon. "Since we know families are the major source for a successful reintegration [after inmates are released] it's important that they stay in contact."