4 ms·

I'm the point person for a church parish group supporting an incarcerated prisoner who'll likely be in for another eight years and this is what we deal with all

I'm the point person for a church parish group supporting an incarcerated prisoner who'll likely be in for another eight years and this is what we deal with all the time. Combine the ambivalence that people will feel about most offenders with legitimate security requirements (especially those designed to defeat opioid smuggling) with security BS with business profiteering, and you've got a toxic mix that, usually, whittles away the outside support and community connections most prisoners have. We're a relatively wealthy group, with lots of retired people, and so there are people who can take the time to know the correspondence and book sending requirements, others who can make the 3 hour (each way) trip to visit with the prisoner once a month, others who can take phone calls. We reduced the cost of the calls for the calls from $25/fifteen minute call to "only" $3.50 through some Twilio VOIP call forwarding. And I know all about Jpay. $0.40 for each email message (slightly less with the volume discount), plus the same again for each attachment (and at this point, only 40 cents for email seems cheap). The 10% fee for cash for the commissary (plus the prison takes a cut for the inmate's savings account). We struggle to do what we need to do for our prisoner, and I can't bear to think about all the prisoners who are depending on just a few family members and friends who themselves are struggling to get by.

snuxoll 9y ago
You’re a saint and make me feel incredibly guilty - I’ve got a friend who was recently sentenced to 25 years and I haven’t even bothered figuring out how to contact him or send him any money. Do you have any documentation on your twilio magic? I’d love to speak to him but I can’t stomach how much they charge for such basic things.
- essayist 9y ago
  Thanks, and I'm so sorry about your friend. The Twilio magic is basic: buy a Twilio number that's as local as possible to the prison (say 999-#######), have it forward to the contact's real landline or cell (say 444-#######), then pay through connectnetwork.com for the 999 number to receive what are basically "collect" calls. If you're just doing it for yourself, and you're not already using Google Voice (GV) or have a Google user id to spare, you can get the 999 local number through GV, and then have it forward to your landline/cell. That's a little cheaper than Twilio. For Twilio, I use a "Twimlbin" for each number, see below. An added benefit is that the callee (the outside person taking the call) always sees the same caller id, and so can put that in their address book with a suitable label. Connectnetwork also has a protocol (a little more complex and finicky than unattended collect calls) which require the callee to press the right keys to accept the calls (or to reject them). I sometimes get that wrong (one out of three times) and sometime the system seems finicky (I thought I did it right, but it still treats me as if I rejected the call). So our prisoner knows to call a few times. If this is still complex, hit me up on email (in profile) or comment here. I'd be happy to help. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <Response> <Dial timeout="20" callerId="1999#######"> <Number>+1444#######</Number> </Dial> </Response>

snuxoll 9y ago

You’re a saint and make me feel incredibly guilty - I’ve got a friend who was recently sentenced to 25 years and I haven’t even bothered figuring out how to contact him or send him any money. Do you have any documentation on your twilio magic? I’d love to speak to him but I can’t stomach how much they charge for such basic things.

essayist 9y ago
Thanks, and I'm so sorry about your friend. The Twilio magic is basic: buy a Twilio number that's as local as possible to the prison (say 999-#######), have it forward to the contact's real landline or cell (say 444-#######), then pay through connectnetwork.com for the 999 number to receive what are basically "collect" calls. If you're just doing it for yourself, and you're not already using Google Voice (GV) or have a Google user id to spare, you can get the 999 local number through GV, and then have it forward to your landline/cell. That's a little cheaper than Twilio. For Twilio, I use a "Twimlbin" for each number, see below. An added benefit is that the callee (the outside person taking the call) always sees the same caller id, and so can put that in their address book with a suitable label. Connectnetwork also has a protocol (a little more complex and finicky than unattended collect calls) which require the callee to press the right keys to accept the calls (or to reject them). I sometimes get that wrong (one out of three times) and sometime the system seems finicky (I thought I did it right, but it still treats me as if I rejected the call). So our prisoner knows to call a few times. If this is still complex, hit me up on email (in profile) or comment here. I'd be happy to help. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <Response> <Dial timeout="20" callerId="1999#######"> <Number>+1444#######</Number> </Dial> </Response>