Inmates' kin deserve better

[danielle]

PLEASE READ TODAY'S EDITORIAL IN THE MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER.

Inmates' kin deserve better


Surely most citizens would agree that the operation of county jails and state prisons is a fundamental responsibility of government, a cost of society borne by all taxpayers in the interest of public safety. Given that, why is there so little outrage over the shameful burden placed on the families of inmates who attempt to communicate with those families by telephone?

Jails and prisons all over Alabama are bolstering their budgets -- which admittedly need bolstering -- in a way that should embarrass the people of this state. Inmates who want to call home cannot use coins or prepaid phone cards, but instead have to make calls via systems that impose unreasonable costs on their families.

The families receiving the calls are billed for them at unconscionable rates. Charges usually run 19 cents per minute for local calls and 49 cents per minute for long distance calls. What consumer in today's highly competitive telephone service market pays anything like that?

Obviously, the system is lucrative for the telephone companies, which can easily afford to give the jails and prisons a cut of the revenue. That cut supplements the budgets of the jails and prisons. For the state prisons, it produces about a half-million dollars a month.

But at what cost to the families of inmates? And at what cost to the integrity and dignity of government?

The system would be unfair if the cells were filled with the heirs of Rockefellers, but most inmates don't come from well-off families. To impose such exorbitant costs for simple telephone communication with an incarcerated loved one is indefensible.

Families can refuse to accept calls from inmates, of course, but that hardly helps maintain relationships. It is just plain wrong to put families in that situation.

Very few inmates will die in prison. Most will get out at some point, and it is certainly in the state's interest for them to have maintained family relationships that they can re-enter upon their release.

Adequate funding for prisons and jails is an obligation of the citizenry that the facilities help protect. This callous ripping off of inmates' families is a blight on Alabama government that should shame us all.

[Goody's Girl]

PRAISE GOD!!!!! Somebody that actually knows the score!! Way to go Montgomery!!

[willsgrl25]

read that in todays advertiser. woooooo.......hoooo!!!!
you go girl!!

[MichaelsGrl]

ALRIGHT!!!! If enough waves are made about this problem, do you think it might help our cause? Everyone should right an editorial and send it in. Make them listen!

[sherri13]

I think it is going to have to be a TIDAL WAVE-so yes, EVERYONE needs to complian in writing simultaneously!

this has been an ongoing issue for some time and a huge and legitimate one it is!