High Cost of Inmate Phone Calls (Editorial)

[Dazzler]

An editorial discussing a House bill to alleviate the high cost of inmate phone calls to their families may be read at:




http://www.illinoisprisontalk.com/index.php?topic=2729.0

[Sister]

Should all of these separate people be called and asked to vote for the Family Telephone Connection Protection Act of 2005?

[Dazzler]

This proposal has been hanging around quite a while now with no action...it might be a good idea to light a fire under some of them...let's check it out....maybe Scout can do a little research and see what's been happening on this...I'm on Rush's email notification list and have received nothing.

[JJL]

 )(*
I just finished my last complaint letter about these outrageous collect call costs. The only one I actually had to print out and snail mail was to the Attorney General, Lisa Madigan.
The Illinois Commerce Commission, Citizens Utility Board, and Rep Robby Rush was all done electronically.
Don't know how much good it will do, but you can't just sit by and say nothing.

I just checked my voicemail at home and I love it when he calls me and sneaks in little messages when he knows I'm not there so it'll go into my voicemail. At least I can hear his voice and know for the moment he's okay. Plus it also let's me know I haven't reached the limit for the month yet either.  &*&

 :-(I always hate it when I see he's calling on the caller ID and then when I answer and get the horrible recording that "you've reached your toll limit for the month......blah blah blah BS" and end up in tears cause I can't talk to him until the start of a new month....unless I fork out more dough for a deposit, which I can not afford to do.

[Jims]

I'm feeling a bit low myself about phone calls. I missed one tonight and one last night. My schedule changed at work and I ended up working these last two days. He didn't know that, so he planned to call on Wednesday. He did, I wasn't here.... I was sad. So he tried again tonight, and I wasn't home. I'm sad, but what I really hate is that I know he is worried sick. I RARELY miss a scheduled phone call. In all the years he's been calling, I've only missed 4 calls - counting the 2 this week.

[JJL]

I just received an email response from the Consumer Rights Counselor with the Citizens Utility Board of Illinois. It's one of the half-way decent responses I've received out of the 4 complaints I submitted to various agencies. Thought I would share. Maybe you all could submit complaints as well.....we need more numbers of people. Maybe that will help. But it sounds like he already agrees that the set up is wrong.


Ms (removed),
I agree with you 100% that the collect call rates being charged to those in the IDOC are ridiculous and sad. I have brought it to the attention of the lawyer here at our organization as well. He communicated to me the difficulty we have faced in getting the state to take action on this matter. We will continue to try and do something about this situation. Sorry to hear this problem affects you and your family.
Best,
 
Bryan McDaniel
Consumer Rights Counselor
Citizens Utility Board
312-263-4282 Ext. 117
bmcdaniel@citizensutilityboard.org
208 S. LaSalle St. Suite 1760
Chicago, Illinois 60604-1003

[dancer]

I don't remember the name of the person,  but about 4 months ago I spoke with someone at the IDOC who does the contracts.  He asked me to send a fax of one of my phone bills,  which I did.   He explained that one of the reasons it is so high is because they are operator assisted collect calls.  And in my case,  out of state.  In Mn the inmates can purchase calling cards. The calls are still recorded but they do not have to call collect as they prepay for the cards.  They are very cheap compared to IL. I think the way to get to them would be to have a boycott of consolidated! Seriously,  buckle down and no phone calls until they lower the rates. 

[JJL]

Hey Everybody:
I got a letter from Atty General Lisa Madigan's Office regarding my consumer complaint for the high rates that consolidated charges for IDOC collect calls. I don't have a scanner, so I will retype it below. It's probably a very generic letter, but may be worth something, who knows.

Dear Ms. Blah Blah:
     The Consumer Protection Division, of the Office of Attorney General has received your consumer complaint. A copy of your complaint has been forwarded to the above named business for their review and response.
     The business may contact you about a possible settlement after they receive our letter. We encourage you to consider any reasonable offer. If the business responds directly to our office, a copy of their response will be mailed to you.
     This is an informal mediation process. We are unable to represent private citizens in legal disputes.
     Please direct all correspondence to my attnetion, Office of Attorney General, Consumer Protection Division, 500 South Second Street, Springfield, IL 62706. Please reference your file number on all correspondence.

     Sincerely,

     Atty General State of Ill

     Cynthia Diemer
     Citizens Advocate
     Consumer Protection Division
     217-782-9047


So what do ya'll think about that? I mean I know Consolidated is NOT going to even possibly give me any money back or whatever, so that's why I think this is a generic response letter.

But I hope that everyone that is greatly affected by these high ass phone bills will please complain. Strength comes in numbers and eventually somebody has to listen! Plus you know, I'd figure that if the IDOC preferred not to deal with quite so many visitors all the time, that if the phone calls were much cheaper that a lot of people could talk over the phone. Not to say that I'd prefer to talk to Jo on the phone instead of seeing him, but you know what I mean.

[dancer]

I think the best protest is not using phone calls.  I would rather use that money to visit in person.  I just feel SCREWED every time I get a bill for almost  $40 for a  30 min call ( inc taxes)

[Susan]

My calls from Decatur were about $10 for 30 minutes.

I've just complained to the BBB about Consolidated. I paid my final bill in early July. I still do not have my extra $50 deposit back. They told me in July it would take up to 60 days. I called last week and they told me that the bill was not *settled* until August, even though I closed the account and paid by check in early July. Now it's the end of October, and they told me that it may take an additional 60 days to refund the deposit.

I hate them.

[hmiller]

  Thats what i have to say to consalidate, They charge way to muc h money and it is not right, And they cut us off knowing that we will accept again

[westerly]

Are the petitions still being signed for this?  I know they were put on the board in 2008. 

[Dazzler]

Yes, if you visit our petition website, it's listed at the bottom of my post, you can sign the telephone petition.  Thank you.

[lvanrs2]

Has anyone noticed a drop in their phone call charges and a change in the amount of phone calls.  I do not have a prepaid account and used to only be allowed 5 phone calls a month.  Now I can have more than 5 calls per month and the phone calls have dropped to $6.29 instead of $9.40 for a 30 minute call.  Just curious if something is going on with the petition for telephone justice.

[kate102518]

You know, I'm not sure about the number of calls, because I don't get many, but my bill was a little lower with this last call.  Other times, my bill has been 13.90 (for a 30 min call), but this month it was only $10.79.  I hope it stays like that for the future.  Well actually I hope it goes lower, but that might be asking a lot 

[Schrader42]

Hmmm, I haven't noticed any changes in pricing and still pay the $9.40 for the 30 minute call. 

[KSwife]

The amount of our calls dropped significantly at the end of last year. We went from 30 something to 10 something for a 30 minute call. Consolidated called me a month or two ago to say they were returning my deposit as it wasn't required anymore. K has been in seg for 3 months so if the cost has changed again I won't know until next month. We didn't have a limit on the number of calls only a money limit so I'm not sure if anything changed there either. I will post if I see a change next month.

[mamacita1]

We also got a phone call from Consolidated last week.  They are no longer holding on to our deposit of over 3 years (no interest accumulated of course), and asked us if we wanted to apply the deposit towards our bill. 

Something appears to be happenning!

[Dazzler]

They can't hold deposits on accounts that are prepaid.  I did receive interest on my $100 that I got back two years after J was paroled.

[lvanrs2]

I never did have to pay a deposit on my phone and neither did my mom.  She has had a consolidated account since 2000