fuzzsladay
10-22-2002, 09:41 AM
Here in South Dakota, there has been a lot of houpla over the surcharges on calls from the states correctional facilities. Last year, the state made around $400,000 off phone calls from inmates.
Many family members and friends of inmates pushed the issue to the state legislature and managed to get their attention. They have recently put into place a new debit type phone system. You can send money specifically earmarked for the inmates phone debit account. Inmates then have a choice. They can call using the new debit system or the old collect system. The new debit system is quite a bit cheaper, though not as cheap as a regular call. The best part about it for us and for many of my friends with loved ones on the inside is that it is not a collect call. I use a cell phone and don't have a land line. I could never recieve calls from my husband before because I couldn't accept collect calls. A friend of mine has a land line, but no long distance. She also could not accept collect calls. Still another friend has had trouble keeping the cost of collect calls under control because she just couldn't bring herself to deny her husband's calls even though she couldn't afford them. This new system allows inmates to actually see what the calls cost and how often they can afford to call.
The system operates through qwest communications in our state. It is only about a month old, but it seems to be working well so far. It also must be cost effective for the state. If it weren't, I don't think they would have gone for it.
Many family members and friends of inmates pushed the issue to the state legislature and managed to get their attention. They have recently put into place a new debit type phone system. You can send money specifically earmarked for the inmates phone debit account. Inmates then have a choice. They can call using the new debit system or the old collect system. The new debit system is quite a bit cheaper, though not as cheap as a regular call. The best part about it for us and for many of my friends with loved ones on the inside is that it is not a collect call. I use a cell phone and don't have a land line. I could never recieve calls from my husband before because I couldn't accept collect calls. A friend of mine has a land line, but no long distance. She also could not accept collect calls. Still another friend has had trouble keeping the cost of collect calls under control because she just couldn't bring herself to deny her husband's calls even though she couldn't afford them. This new system allows inmates to actually see what the calls cost and how often they can afford to call.
The system operates through qwest communications in our state. It is only about a month old, but it seems to be working well so far. It also must be cost effective for the state. If it weren't, I don't think they would have gone for it.