9 ms·

Show HN: Ameelio.org – Free Prison Communication Platform

364 points by jessehorne 6y ago

jessehorne 6y ago
Lead developer here. Ameelio is a non-profit that's building free technology to transform corrections and criminal justice. We've recently launched Letters, our first application that lets loved-ones of incarcerated individuals send physical mail for free. Currently, the situation is that two corporations own communication throughout the prisons and jails in the U.S (Global Tel Link and Securus). They charge ridiculous amounts of money just so that you can stay in contact with your loved-ones. We're hoping to change that. I actually discovered Ameelio last year through a Hacker News post (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21129557 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21129557) that didn't gain much attention. Zo, the founder, had reached out looking for support and contributors through a hiring post. When I read the post, I decided to look more into the project. My first thought was just "Wow!". I really vibed with the concept because it's something that hits really close to home. I've had friends and family that were incarcerated before so I know exactly what it's like dealing with the struggles that come from that experience. When someone is incarcerated, it's not just a punishment for them. It's an attack on their families, as well. In my experience, poverty is oftentimes a direct cause for incarceration. Mistakes are made and you get put into a situation, a system, that doesn't value reformation, but instead looks to profit. To communicate with a loved-one on the inside means spending money that you don't have. If your family is struggling financially, it means that you're out of luck. This shouldn't be the case. I believe that a system focused on reformation would be much better for our society than a system based on profit. Why should a corporation be able to take control of communication between an incarcerated individual and their loved-ones meahwhile charging high prices knowing that it's their only option? Why have we allowed that to happen? Being a part of this project is my way of stepping up and making sure we can deliver an alternative option for those families that are struggling. I've received amazing support from this community before and thanks to you guys I've been able to focus my efforts on projects like this. Any and all feedback is welcome. If you're interested in using our app then feel free to check it out. It's free and we'll do all that we can to keep it that way.
- flanbiscuit 6y ago
  "Currently, the situation is that two corporations own communication throughout the prisons and jails in the U.S (JPay and Securus)." Did you experience any issues trying to get into this space? Any push back from the companies mentioned or from any of the state prison systems? What a great idea! That testimonial from the blind person on your home page is very moving.
  - jessehorne 6y ago
    First I'd like to thank you for the comment. You made me realize a mistake I made in mentioning JPay and Securus when I meant to say Global Tel Link and Securus. As far as pushback from other companies, we haven't received any so far. There's nothing they can really do besides make their services more appealing. Currently, with Letters (our first app), it allows users to sign up, add their contacts (inmates), and then type out a letter and also are given the option to attach an image. Then we use a third party service, Lob, to print off the letter and send it. Given that we're just working with physical mail, there's absolutely nothing they can do to stop us. One type of pushback we can receive is from facilities themselves. One facility returned one of our letters and said that you can't have anything in the letter that could be some form of encrypted message or symbol. In our case, that happened to be the bar code used by the third party service to manage their letters. In the future, we'd like to also offer services like free video chat/messaging. In my opinion, we're not far from being able to offer those kinds of services. I can definitely imagine some sort of pushback happening in that space, but what kind specifically is TBD. I'm excited though, because if we can get to that point, we'll be literally transforming the system.
    - grahamburger 6y ago
      Honest question, because I have no idea how this all works: if people can just send letters for the cost of a stamp then why do they use Global Tel Link or Securus? Really great thing you're doing here, I hope it all works out.
      - 6y ago
Genome1776 6y ago
Awesome work, looking forward to seeing this really take hold. This can be such a blessing to families and the mental health of inmates. Too many times have friends and family in lockup gone long times without hearing from loved ones because of the costs involved. Keep up the great work for a great cause.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
gabesaruhashi 6y ago
My name is Gabe and I am one of the co-founders of Ameelio. Though we only launched 4 weeks ago, we have over 1,250 users that collectively sent >3,000 letters across the entire country. While it’s free for us to videoconference on Zoom and Facetime during quarantine, it can cost up to $25 to make a 15-minute phone call to an incarcerated person. Some of you might be thinking: “Is it just a letter mailing service?” Though for many stamps might not seem expensive, costs add up. Many of the families lost their jobs during the crisis. One in three families with incarcerated loved ones is forced into debt by the cost of visits and exorbitantly priced calls. In the past weeks, we’ve learned first-hand from our users about the challenges of staying connected. * Carol is completely blind and finds it too difficult to send physical mail but has now been able to connect with her incarcerated nephew using Ameelio * Ellie is stuck in Norway and mail would normally take weeks to send to her incarcerated husband Kasey who is in the US, but with Ameelio she can send mail in 4-6 business days * Nikki explained to us it is much more meaningful to “read and hold” a letter “close to them” than to send a text message or scanned letter - her husband calls Ameelio letters “little treasures” * Samantha shared with us that she cannot afford stamps to talk to her husband Our vision is to keep reconnecting those that are impacted by incarceration through free technology.
- rsweeney21 6y ago
  This is awesome. Thanks for building this.
- Kronopath 6y ago
  How does your company handle the costs of mailing or delivering the letters?
  - Zoorchingwa 6y ago
    My name is Zo, I'm one of the co-founders of Ameelio. We are completely self-funded at the moment, so we need all the help we can get! We were recently accepted into one of Mozilla's accelerators, so this will provide us some additional funding. As a 501c3 we're eligible to receive grants and donations, so we're furiously applying to grants and reaching out to foundations. 34% of families with a loved one in prison fall into debt trying to pay for phone calls and visits alone (https://bit.ly/2YrmyPV https://bit.ly/2YrmyPV), so we're committed to keeping our services 100% free.
jennylee68 6y ago
I'm Jenny, and I am currently the Growth and Social Media Manager in Ameelio. We've been working hard to reach out to different organizations that work with incarcerated people and immigration detention centers to further spread the influence we can have, alleviating burdens - financial, emotional, and physical - that family members feel. The Ameelio Ambassadors has been a great help towards spreading the word. They are a group of people who are passionate about bringing a change to the current communication system in prisons and detention centers, volunteering to increase awareness about the service we provide. Together with their help and the support we are receiving from organizations that responded to our outreach, I believe that Ameelio will able to bring tangible changes to the current communication system, envisioning a legislative change in the future that would provide the people with their basic needs: communicating with their loved ones with no burden.
- lazyasciiart 6y ago
  You should get in touch with Unloop in Seattle - they teach programming in prison and have a small freelance dev shop staffed by people who went through their program. https://www.un-loop.org/ https://www.un-loop.org/
  - Zoorchingwa 6y ago
    Zo (co-founder). Thanks for sharing, we will definitely reach out to them.
zachiemills 6y ago
This is truly an amazing cause! Incarcerated people and their families deserve better, and Ameelio's organization and outreach is going to provide an incredible impact. I cannot wait to watch this organization grow!
- Zoorchingwa 6y ago
  Thanks so much! Really appreciate it.
joshmn 6y ago
I just want to say good luck. There's so much that can be done that isn't. Part of that is the system. Part of that is Securus. Part of that is lobbying. Part of that is just plain lack of innovation. There's room here to innovate. I had a product that effectively allowed inmates to have a Soundcloud from the prison phone. It pissed off a few people.
- estreeper 6y ago
  Could you elaborate on what your experience was and the pushback you received? It would also be interesting to hear a bit more about what you built!
  - bdcravens 6y ago
    Many states ban any kind of social media access by inmates, even through a third party https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2017/may/5/texas-prison-system-bans-social-media-prisoners/ https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2017/may/5/texas-prison... Obviously there's some nuance as to whether Soundcloud is social media, but the bigger point is that prisons want to control inmates' ability to communicate
    - aerostable_slug 6y ago
      >the bigger point is that prisons want to control inmates' ability to communicate For good reason. Uncontrolled inmate communications result in things like murder: "The complaint alleges that Corbett planned several killings with Ronald Dean Yandell, aka Renegade, an Aryan Brotherhood leader who prosecutors say sits on the three-man commission that runs the gang. Corbett and Yandell were incarcerated 220 miles apart from one another, but regularly communicated through contraband prison cell phones, prosecutors say." https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/02/01/ca-inmate-was-killed-minutes-after-prison-gave-him-aryan-brotherhood-associate-as-new-cellmate-lawsuit-says/ https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/02/01/ca-inmate-was-killed-... "Consider the case of a, a 38-year-old Maryland resident who had the bad luck to witness a street murder in Baltimore and the rare courage to agree to testify against the accused killer, Patrick Byers. According to prosecutors, Byers acquired a phone while awaiting trial in Baltimore's City Detention Center. He obtained Lackl's name, address, and phone number and allegedly texted that information to a friend on the outside, along with an offer of $2,500 to get rid of Lackl. On July 2, 2007, the friend rounded up a couple of thugs and drove out to Lackl's modest suburban home, where authorities say the crew blasted him to death with a .44 Magnum." https://www.wired.com/2009/05/ff-prisonphones/ https://www.wired.com/2009/05/ff-prisonphones/ "While authorities say Johnson is the first corrections officer in the U.S. harmed by a hit ordered from inmate’s cell phone, other people have been targets. In 2005, a New Jersey inmate serving time for shooting at two police officers used a smuggled phone to order a fatal attack on his girlfriend, who had given authorities information leading to his arrest." https://newsone.com/753345/prisoner-ordered-hit-outside-of-prison-with-smuggled-cell-phone/ https://newsone.com/753345/prisoner-ordered-hit-outside-of-p... There are more examples, but I think these illustrate that it's a very good idea to have control over inmate communications.
flyGuyOnTheSly 6y ago
Just a tip upon first glance... You might want to make the homepage a bit more politically correct by changing up the first (and only?) two incarcerated ethnicities from being Black and Hispanic. I am aware they make up the majority of the American prison population, but they really shouldn't. Seems like a worthwhile project though. Good luck!
- twomoretime 6y ago
  >I am aware they make up the majority of the American prison population, but they really shouldn't Why? You think the entire disparity is explained by "socioeconomics" and/or "institutional racism"? More importantly, we're supposed to have "accurate" representation for positive traits, but only white men should be represented under negative circumstances? Am I understanding this PC stuff correctly?
  - nerdponx 6y ago
    You think the entire disparity is explained by "socioeconomics" and/or "institutional racism" Yes.
  - kelnos 6y ago
    > You think the entire disparity is explained by "socioeconomics" and/or "institutional racism"? It's a little to absolutist to say "entire", but for the most part, yes, that does seem to be a huge factor in incarceration disparities by race. Either way, you are putting words in the parent poster's mouth. > More importantly, we're supposed to have "accurate" representation for positive traits, but only white men should be represented under negative circumstances? The parent didn't suggest anything of the sort. Again, please don't put words in people's mouths in order to start an argument that isn't there. > Am I understanding this PC stuff correctly? Probably not.
  - IanCal 6y ago
    > Am I understanding this PC stuff correctly? No. In general it's useful to consider that if you think someone else's viewpoint is ridiculous that you may have misunderstood. Here, for example, nobody has claimed "only white men should be represented under negative circumstances".
_jal 6y ago
This is a really wonderful thing you're doing. Thank you.
steviedotboston 6y ago
is Gil Amelio involved in this?
- jessehorne 6y ago
  Nope! The name is inspired from the word "Ameliorate", meaning "to make better".
iamthepieman 6y ago
Do you need volunteer developers or other types of professionals?
- jessehorne 6y ago
  We could use all the help we can get. If you'd like, just reach out to our email with what you're interested in helping with or any skills you may have. I'm sure we can figure out something and I'm thankful you're interested in helping us! team@ameelio.org
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
catlas3r 6y ago
This is a good cause, but the headline given to this post threw me. Clearly, it's meant as "make communication between prisoners and their loved ones outside of prison free of cost" But because of the phrasing, I read it as "make prison communication-free" or "make it be such that prisons are free from communication" which is a scary draconian dystopia that I can sadly imagine happening in my and many other parts of the world.
phendrenad2 6y ago
It's sad that as a society we've allowed those who are serving their time to be exploited, but this is a good way to fight back, and hopefully make exploitation of the imprisoned a less lucrative market for unscrupulous actors.
- jessehorne 6y ago
  Exactly my thoughts!
- 29c3b2bb4 6y ago
  Exactly my thoughts! Really, we shouldn't have prisons at all, or any against-one's-will system. Just take a look at Chicago. With the new attorney general, they've made it a policy to "go easy" on the violent crimes. The bottom line is: no one should be in prison, regardless of the "crime".
  - monkeywork 6y ago
    >Really, we shouldn't have prisons at all, or any against-one's-will system Then what do you suggest we do with people who are harming people or their property? Speak firmly at them? For pretty much all of human history you have had three options for those who damage peace and society ... death, exile, and jail. Exile isn't really an option anymore so that leaves death and jail...
michaelgiba 6y ago
I read this headline as "Making Prison Communication-Free" and thought it was some sort of cruel experiment
- dang 6y ago
  If there's a better wording, we can change it. Edit: I've changed it to the HTML doc title for now.
toomuchtodo 6y ago
This project makes my heart so full. Thanks for your team‘s hard work, meaningful and necessary work. Y’all need to apply for YC’s non profit program (edit: I see you’re already in Mozilla’s accelerator, equally good!). I hope you can scale up to audio and videoconferencing with more resources and backing (donated compute, open source tooling like Jitsi Meet or similar) and chip away at the for profits in the space taking advantage of the families and loved ones of the incarcerated.
- gabesaruhashi 6y ago
  Thank you so much for your support! This is totally what we envision the next steps to be. Today we had a meeting with Rep. Josh Elliot who's pushing for the free phone call bill here in CT to talk exactly about that. And thanks for the advice! We'll try to apply for YC's next batch :)
dudul 6y ago
> Nearly one in two Americans has a family member who is either currently or formerly incarcerated. > 34% of families with a loved one in prison are sent into debt by the cost of maintaining contact. Can you add links to the sources for these stats? They just sound unreal and I'd like to understand better how the cost of maintaining contact becomes so high.
- Zoorchingwa 6y ago
  Hi, this is Zo (co-founder). "Nearly one in two Americans has a family member who is either currently or formerly incarcerated." Source: Cornell University & Fwd.us study https://www.fwd.us/news/groundbreaking-report-half-of-all-u-s-adults-have-immediate-family-member-currently-or-previously-incarcerated/ https://www.fwd.us/news/groundbreaking-report-half-of-all-u-... "34% of families with a loved one in prison are sent into debt by the cost of maintaining contact." Sources: https://nyti.ms/35qNlNZ; https://nyti.ms/35qNlNZ; http://whopaysreport.org/executive-summary/ http://whopaysreport.org/executive-summary/ Here are some additional sources on the exorbitant costs loved ones of the incarcerated face: NYTimes: https://nyti.ms/3aVrqzD https://nyti.ms/3aVrqzD Marshall Project: https://bit.ly/2y95Avf https://bit.ly/2y95Avf Wired: https://bit.ly/2xsGRBJ https://bit.ly/2xsGRBJ Prison Policy Initiative: https://bit.ly/3d3DtMw https://bit.ly/3d3DtMw
freedomben 6y ago
Are your products open source so volunteers can contribute?
- jessehorne 6y ago
  I'm really glad you asked. Initially, the plan was to open source all of our tools. However, we decided to hold off on that until we pick an appropriate license for each project and do some more planning. We're looking for volunteers though and I would love to work with you on this. Feel free to contact us. team@ameelio.org
kruzerkc 6y ago
Hi I'm Kiran, the finance manager for Ameelio. We are 100% committed to keeping our tools free for users - they're some of the most vulnerable in society and it is a tragedy that they are getting fleeced by predatory companies. As our founder said, we're completely self-funded and all volunteers right now. That's to say - we really need $$ to keep sending letters. If you have spare resources during these times, we would really appreciate it if you could help us out and donate! Here's a link: https://www.aplos.com/aws/give/ameelio/general https://www.aplos.com/aws/give/ameelio/general
- odensc 6y ago
  > We are 100% committed to keeping our tools free for users > Website: "All our users can send unlimited free letters" But then in your landing page screenshot: > To celebrate Ameelio's launch, you have unlimited letters! As our community grows, you'll have access to 4 free letters a month. So which one is it? To say it's a "free communication platform" with "unlimited free letters" but then to limit it to 4 letters/mo as your "community grows" is disingenuous.
  - jessehorne 6y ago
    To be honest the 4 letter cap comment is just in case we run out of funding and is subject to change depending on the situation. This isn't some free trial exploit. Nothing we do is disingenuous. We are 100% committed to keeping our tools free for users. I know the world is filled with businessmen trying to take your money, but that's not us. But thank you very much for pointing this out. We need to make sure we're more clear in the future.
    - odensc 6y ago
      That's good to hear. I think if you made it clear that the level of service you can provide is proportional to the funding you receive, it would both fix this misunderstanding and serve as an incentive for people to donate.
hackermailman 6y ago
There is already a similar service but it costs (very little) money called jmail.cc that I've been using that prints out letters and photos and mail them for you. As an ex US federal prisoner (long story, teenager, petty financial hacking crime, extradited from a foreign country years ago) I am intimately aware of the terribad state of Jpay and corrlinks and all the other overpriced communciations methods for prisoners. What I do now is whenever I want to buy a new technical book I usually send it to a random prisoner not incarcerated for something heinous and do it with them via letters, it's good motivation because once a guy in jail for cheque kiting absolutely slayed a vector calculus book I was trying to do and I had to pick up the pace in order to keep up with him. HN has their list of 'request for startups' and one of them is employ over 1 million ppl and I've always thought that the perfect situation for this is prisoners if you can somehow navigate the political arena to make it happen. There's just tons of people there willing to work and do anything to improve their situation, as long as you aren't Ikea maximum profiteering off convicts and help them as much as you help yourself everything should be cool.
- jessehorne 6y ago
  I've seriously enjoyed reading your comments. Would love to get in touch sometime and discuss some ideas. I think the book idea you do is awesome. My email is in my profile. Please reach out if you see this!
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
sanj 6y ago
Are you all working with https://www.flikshop.com/ https://www.flikshop.com/ ? If not, I’m happy to put you in contact. Do you have any (formerly?) incarcerated members on your leadership team?
rshnotsecure 6y ago
This is just Zoom. The partners and sponsors almost all conspicuously mention Zoom meetings and Zoom Celebrations on their websites. Especially because of the major WSJ story today on Zoom and the origins of the Coronavirus, it seems very implausible that anyone mentions Zoom anymore overtly without having an agenda. The co-founders are all from Yale, and have the best of intentions, but don't realize they have to some extent been manipulated. I think this phrase was a little concerning as well. There is a decent historical record that has been built up over the last 10 years of stuff like this being abused: "We also use machine learning tools to make predictions". What are they trying to forecast? When did talking and letter writing necessarily need machine learning? I'm not at all saying it is dumb...but we should approach all of this with caution and hesitancy.
- Zoorchingwa 6y ago
  Hi, I'm Zo (co-founder). We have no affiliation with Zoom. But given the fortune they’ve made recently, we would certainly appreciate it if they donated (https://bit.ly/2z7J4CP https://bit.ly/2z7J4CP). While many of us are Yale students, we come varying backgrounds. I'm a Nigerian-American (born in Chicago, spent my early childhood in Nigeria, and now live in CT). Gabe is Brazilian, Jesse is from Iowa, etc. We all connected on this project because we are committed to social innovation and want to do all we can to stop the exploitation of loved ones of incarcerated people, who are disproportionately low-income. Re data and prediction: scholars of incarceration lament the dearth of data on the criminal justice system. NYTimes- “Missing: Criminal Justice Data” (https://nyti.ms/2FUEkDq)— https://nyti.ms/2FUEkDq)— “Criminal justice data in this country is hard to come by. It can be messy and difficult to understand. And in many cases, the data doesn’t exist at all...Missing data is at the core of a national crisis.” John Pfaff- Locked In (https://amzn.to/3aZYB5X)— https://amzn.to/3aZYB5X)— “Perhaps even more troubling, there are some issues where we simply have no data, where almost nothing at all is gathered.” Elected officials are creating criminal justice policies, that impact millions, with limited information. We want to inform better policymaking using data analytics. The folks are Measure of Justice (https://measuresforjustice.org/about/overview https://measuresforjustice.org/about/overview) are leading way, and we want to help where we can. Scholars of algorithmic bias have convinced me that algorithmic risk assessment has disparate impact on minority groups, so I’m personally not in favor of these tools (https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/1/eaao5580; https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/1/eaao5580; https://ssrn.com/abstract=3257004 https://ssrn.com/abstract=3257004). We will not be doing any risk assessment etc. Using past data to better understand and predict how the state prison populations might change in the future could yield insightful information. In my home state of CT, “between 2008 and 2018, the state prison population has fallen by 30 percent, and the minority prison population has dropped by 32 percent” (https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2019/02/13/ct-prison-population-on-the-decline/ https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2019/02/13/ct-prison-populati...). The article also notes: “Marc Pelka, undersecretary of the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management’s Criminal Justice Policy and Planning Division, told the News that while it is “hard to pinpoint a single policy or trend,” he named a few reasons for the decline in state prison population.” Understanding why states like CT have been effective in reducing their prison population could help other states do the same. I really appreciate the feedback, we will make our language around data analytics more clear. Please keep the comments coming! Zo
pikwip 6y ago
This looks fantastic. One bit of feedback: the lack of a Paypal option for donating almost stopped me from donating. The fees might be worth the security guarantee.
- jessehorne 6y ago
  We'll get that fixed ASAP.
downshun 6y ago
Seems like a worthy goal. Hoping for your success. Some sour negativity for good balance, from someone unfamiliar with criminal systems : Are there mechanisms in place for verification of the sender and some potential criminal misuse of your platform?
throwaway13239 6y ago
Awesome mission, wishing you guys all the best. But Ameelio sounds like Emilio. Using latino men's names is probably not the most appropriate idea for this

364 points by jessehorne 6y ago

Lead developer here. Ameelio is a non-profit that's building free technology to transform corrections and criminal justice. We've recently launched Letters, our first application that lets loved-ones of incarcerated individuals send physical mail for free. Currently, the situation is that two corporations own communication throughout the prisons and jails in the U.S (Global Tel Link and Securus). They charge ridiculous amounts of money just so that you can stay in contact with your loved-ones. We're hoping to change that. I actually discovered Ameelio last year through a Hacker News post (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21129557 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21129557) that didn't gain much attention. Zo, the founder, had reached out looking for support and contributors through a hiring post. When I read the post, I decided to look more into the project. My first thought was just "Wow!". I really vibed with the concept because it's something that hits really close to home. I've had friends and family that were incarcerated before so I know exactly what it's like dealing with the struggles that come from that experience. When someone is incarcerated, it's not just a punishment for them. It's an attack on their families, as well. In my experience, poverty is oftentimes a direct cause for incarceration. Mistakes are made and you get put into a situation, a system, that doesn't value reformation, but instead looks to profit. To communicate with a loved-one on the inside means spending money that you don't have. If your family is struggling financially, it means that you're out of luck. This shouldn't be the case. I believe that a system focused on reformation would be much better for our society than a system based on profit. Why should a corporation be able to take control of communication between an incarcerated individual and their loved-ones meahwhile charging high prices knowing that it's their only option? Why have we allowed that to happen? Being a part of this project is my way of stepping up and making sure we can deliver an alternative option for those families that are struggling. I've received amazing support from this community before and thanks to you guys I've been able to focus my efforts on projects like this. Any and all feedback is welcome. If you're interested in using our app then feel free to check it out. It's free and we'll do all that we can to keep it that way.

flanbiscuit 6y ago
"Currently, the situation is that two corporations own communication throughout the prisons and jails in the U.S (JPay and Securus)." Did you experience any issues trying to get into this space? Any push back from the companies mentioned or from any of the state prison systems? What a great idea! That testimonial from the blind person on your home page is very moving.
- jessehorne 6y ago
  First I'd like to thank you for the comment. You made me realize a mistake I made in mentioning JPay and Securus when I meant to say Global Tel Link and Securus. As far as pushback from other companies, we haven't received any so far. There's nothing they can really do besides make their services more appealing. Currently, with Letters (our first app), it allows users to sign up, add their contacts (inmates), and then type out a letter and also are given the option to attach an image. Then we use a third party service, Lob, to print off the letter and send it. Given that we're just working with physical mail, there's absolutely nothing they can do to stop us. One type of pushback we can receive is from facilities themselves. One facility returned one of our letters and said that you can't have anything in the letter that could be some form of encrypted message or symbol. In our case, that happened to be the bar code used by the third party service to manage their letters. In the future, we'd like to also offer services like free video chat/messaging. In my opinion, we're not far from being able to offer those kinds of services. I can definitely imagine some sort of pushback happening in that space, but what kind specifically is TBD. I'm excited though, because if we can get to that point, we'll be literally transforming the system.
  - grahamburger 6y ago
    Honest question, because I have no idea how this all works: if people can just send letters for the cost of a stamp then why do they use Global Tel Link or Securus? Really great thing you're doing here, I hope it all works out.
    - 6y ago

Genome1776 6y ago

Awesome work, looking forward to seeing this really take hold. This can be such a blessing to families and the mental health of inmates. Too many times have friends and family in lockup gone long times without hearing from loved ones because of the costs involved. Keep up the great work for a great cause.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

gabesaruhashi 6y ago

My name is Gabe and I am one of the co-founders of Ameelio. Though we only launched 4 weeks ago, we have over 1,250 users that collectively sent >3,000 letters across the entire country. While it’s free for us to videoconference on Zoom and Facetime during quarantine, it can cost up to $25 to make a 15-minute phone call to an incarcerated person. Some of you might be thinking: “Is it just a letter mailing service?” Though for many stamps might not seem expensive, costs add up. Many of the families lost their jobs during the crisis. One in three families with incarcerated loved ones is forced into debt by the cost of visits and exorbitantly priced calls. In the past weeks, we’ve learned first-hand from our users about the challenges of staying connected. * Carol is completely blind and finds it too difficult to send physical mail but has now been able to connect with her incarcerated nephew using Ameelio * Ellie is stuck in Norway and mail would normally take weeks to send to her incarcerated husband Kasey who is in the US, but with Ameelio she can send mail in 4-6 business days * Nikki explained to us it is much more meaningful to “read and hold” a letter “close to them” than to send a text message or scanned letter - her husband calls Ameelio letters “little treasures” * Samantha shared with us that she cannot afford stamps to talk to her husband Our vision is to keep reconnecting those that are impacted by incarceration through free technology.

rsweeney21 6y ago
This is awesome. Thanks for building this.
Kronopath 6y ago
How does your company handle the costs of mailing or delivering the letters?
- Zoorchingwa 6y ago
  My name is Zo, I'm one of the co-founders of Ameelio. We are completely self-funded at the moment, so we need all the help we can get! We were recently accepted into one of Mozilla's accelerators, so this will provide us some additional funding. As a 501c3 we're eligible to receive grants and donations, so we're furiously applying to grants and reaching out to foundations. 34% of families with a loved one in prison fall into debt trying to pay for phone calls and visits alone (https://bit.ly/2YrmyPV https://bit.ly/2YrmyPV), so we're committed to keeping our services 100% free.

jennylee68 6y ago

I'm Jenny, and I am currently the Growth and Social Media Manager in Ameelio. We've been working hard to reach out to different organizations that work with incarcerated people and immigration detention centers to further spread the influence we can have, alleviating burdens - financial, emotional, and physical - that family members feel. The Ameelio Ambassadors has been a great help towards spreading the word. They are a group of people who are passionate about bringing a change to the current communication system in prisons and detention centers, volunteering to increase awareness about the service we provide. Together with their help and the support we are receiving from organizations that responded to our outreach, I believe that Ameelio will able to bring tangible changes to the current communication system, envisioning a legislative change in the future that would provide the people with their basic needs: communicating with their loved ones with no burden.

lazyasciiart 6y ago
You should get in touch with Unloop in Seattle - they teach programming in prison and have a small freelance dev shop staffed by people who went through their program. https://www.un-loop.org/ https://www.un-loop.org/
- Zoorchingwa 6y ago
  Zo (co-founder). Thanks for sharing, we will definitely reach out to them.

zachiemills 6y ago

This is truly an amazing cause! Incarcerated people and their families deserve better, and Ameelio's organization and outreach is going to provide an incredible impact. I cannot wait to watch this organization grow!

Zoorchingwa 6y ago
Thanks so much! Really appreciate it.

joshmn 6y ago

I just want to say good luck. There's so much that can be done that isn't. Part of that is the system. Part of that is Securus. Part of that is lobbying. Part of that is just plain lack of innovation. There's room here to innovate. I had a product that effectively allowed inmates to have a Soundcloud from the prison phone. It pissed off a few people.

estreeper 6y ago
Could you elaborate on what your experience was and the pushback you received? It would also be interesting to hear a bit more about what you built!
- bdcravens 6y ago
  Many states ban any kind of social media access by inmates, even through a third party https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2017/may/5/texas-prison-system-bans-social-media-prisoners/ https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2017/may/5/texas-prison... Obviously there's some nuance as to whether Soundcloud is social media, but the bigger point is that prisons want to control inmates' ability to communicate
  - aerostable_slug 6y ago
    >the bigger point is that prisons want to control inmates' ability to communicate For good reason. Uncontrolled inmate communications result in things like murder: "The complaint alleges that Corbett planned several killings with Ronald Dean Yandell, aka Renegade, an Aryan Brotherhood leader who prosecutors say sits on the three-man commission that runs the gang. Corbett and Yandell were incarcerated 220 miles apart from one another, but regularly communicated through contraband prison cell phones, prosecutors say." https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/02/01/ca-inmate-was-killed-minutes-after-prison-gave-him-aryan-brotherhood-associate-as-new-cellmate-lawsuit-says/ https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/02/01/ca-inmate-was-killed-... "Consider the case of a, a 38-year-old Maryland resident who had the bad luck to witness a street murder in Baltimore and the rare courage to agree to testify against the accused killer, Patrick Byers. According to prosecutors, Byers acquired a phone while awaiting trial in Baltimore's City Detention Center. He obtained Lackl's name, address, and phone number and allegedly texted that information to a friend on the outside, along with an offer of $2,500 to get rid of Lackl. On July 2, 2007, the friend rounded up a couple of thugs and drove out to Lackl's modest suburban home, where authorities say the crew blasted him to death with a .44 Magnum." https://www.wired.com/2009/05/ff-prisonphones/ https://www.wired.com/2009/05/ff-prisonphones/ "While authorities say Johnson is the first corrections officer in the U.S. harmed by a hit ordered from inmate’s cell phone, other people have been targets. In 2005, a New Jersey inmate serving time for shooting at two police officers used a smuggled phone to order a fatal attack on his girlfriend, who had given authorities information leading to his arrest." https://newsone.com/753345/prisoner-ordered-hit-outside-of-prison-with-smuggled-cell-phone/ https://newsone.com/753345/prisoner-ordered-hit-outside-of-p... There are more examples, but I think these illustrate that it's a very good idea to have control over inmate communications.

flyGuyOnTheSly 6y ago

Just a tip upon first glance... You might want to make the homepage a bit more politically correct by changing up the first (and only?) two incarcerated ethnicities from being Black and Hispanic. I am aware they make up the majority of the American prison population, but they really shouldn't. Seems like a worthwhile project though. Good luck!

twomoretime 6y ago
>I am aware they make up the majority of the American prison population, but they really shouldn't Why? You think the entire disparity is explained by "socioeconomics" and/or "institutional racism"? More importantly, we're supposed to have "accurate" representation for positive traits, but only white men should be represented under negative circumstances? Am I understanding this PC stuff correctly?
- nerdponx 6y ago
  You think the entire disparity is explained by "socioeconomics" and/or "institutional racism" Yes.
- kelnos 6y ago
  > You think the entire disparity is explained by "socioeconomics" and/or "institutional racism"? It's a little to absolutist to say "entire", but for the most part, yes, that does seem to be a huge factor in incarceration disparities by race. Either way, you are putting words in the parent poster's mouth. > More importantly, we're supposed to have "accurate" representation for positive traits, but only white men should be represented under negative circumstances? The parent didn't suggest anything of the sort. Again, please don't put words in people's mouths in order to start an argument that isn't there. > Am I understanding this PC stuff correctly? Probably not.
- IanCal 6y ago
  > Am I understanding this PC stuff correctly? No. In general it's useful to consider that if you think someone else's viewpoint is ridiculous that you may have misunderstood. Here, for example, nobody has claimed "only white men should be represented under negative circumstances".

_jal 6y ago

This is a really wonderful thing you're doing. Thank you.

steviedotboston 6y ago

is Gil Amelio involved in this?

jessehorne 6y ago
Nope! The name is inspired from the word "Ameliorate", meaning "to make better".

iamthepieman 6y ago

Do you need volunteer developers or other types of professionals?

jessehorne 6y ago
We could use all the help we can get. If you'd like, just reach out to our email with what you're interested in helping with or any skills you may have. I'm sure we can figure out something and I'm thankful you're interested in helping us! team@ameelio.org
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

catlas3r 6y ago

This is a good cause, but the headline given to this post threw me. Clearly, it's meant as "make communication between prisoners and their loved ones outside of prison free of cost" But because of the phrasing, I read it as "make prison communication-free" or "make it be such that prisons are free from communication" which is a scary draconian dystopia that I can sadly imagine happening in my and many other parts of the world.

phendrenad2 6y ago

It's sad that as a society we've allowed those who are serving their time to be exploited, but this is a good way to fight back, and hopefully make exploitation of the imprisoned a less lucrative market for unscrupulous actors.

jessehorne 6y ago
Exactly my thoughts!
29c3b2bb4 6y ago
Exactly my thoughts! Really, we shouldn't have prisons at all, or any against-one's-will system. Just take a look at Chicago. With the new attorney general, they've made it a policy to "go easy" on the violent crimes. The bottom line is: no one should be in prison, regardless of the "crime".
- monkeywork 6y ago
  >Really, we shouldn't have prisons at all, or any against-one's-will system Then what do you suggest we do with people who are harming people or their property? Speak firmly at them? For pretty much all of human history you have had three options for those who damage peace and society ... death, exile, and jail. Exile isn't really an option anymore so that leaves death and jail...

michaelgiba 6y ago

I read this headline as "Making Prison Communication-Free" and thought it was some sort of cruel experiment

dang 6y ago
If there's a better wording, we can change it. Edit: I've changed it to the HTML doc title for now.

toomuchtodo 6y ago

This project makes my heart so full. Thanks for your team‘s hard work, meaningful and necessary work. Y’all need to apply for YC’s non profit program (edit: I see you’re already in Mozilla’s accelerator, equally good!). I hope you can scale up to audio and videoconferencing with more resources and backing (donated compute, open source tooling like Jitsi Meet or similar) and chip away at the for profits in the space taking advantage of the families and loved ones of the incarcerated.

gabesaruhashi 6y ago
Thank you so much for your support! This is totally what we envision the next steps to be. Today we had a meeting with Rep. Josh Elliot who's pushing for the free phone call bill here in CT to talk exactly about that. And thanks for the advice! We'll try to apply for YC's next batch :)

dudul 6y ago

> Nearly one in two Americans has a family member who is either currently or formerly incarcerated. > 34% of families with a loved one in prison are sent into debt by the cost of maintaining contact. Can you add links to the sources for these stats? They just sound unreal and I'd like to understand better how the cost of maintaining contact becomes so high.

Zoorchingwa 6y ago
Hi, this is Zo (co-founder). "Nearly one in two Americans has a family member who is either currently or formerly incarcerated." Source: Cornell University & Fwd.us study https://www.fwd.us/news/groundbreaking-report-half-of-all-u-s-adults-have-immediate-family-member-currently-or-previously-incarcerated/ https://www.fwd.us/news/groundbreaking-report-half-of-all-u-... "34% of families with a loved one in prison are sent into debt by the cost of maintaining contact." Sources: https://nyti.ms/35qNlNZ; https://nyti.ms/35qNlNZ; http://whopaysreport.org/executive-summary/ http://whopaysreport.org/executive-summary/ Here are some additional sources on the exorbitant costs loved ones of the incarcerated face: NYTimes: https://nyti.ms/3aVrqzD https://nyti.ms/3aVrqzD Marshall Project: https://bit.ly/2y95Avf https://bit.ly/2y95Avf Wired: https://bit.ly/2xsGRBJ https://bit.ly/2xsGRBJ Prison Policy Initiative: https://bit.ly/3d3DtMw https://bit.ly/3d3DtMw

freedomben 6y ago

Are your products open source so volunteers can contribute?

jessehorne 6y ago
I'm really glad you asked. Initially, the plan was to open source all of our tools. However, we decided to hold off on that until we pick an appropriate license for each project and do some more planning. We're looking for volunteers though and I would love to work with you on this. Feel free to contact us. team@ameelio.org

kruzerkc 6y ago

Hi I'm Kiran, the finance manager for Ameelio. We are 100% committed to keeping our tools free for users - they're some of the most vulnerable in society and it is a tragedy that they are getting fleeced by predatory companies. As our founder said, we're completely self-funded and all volunteers right now. That's to say - we really need $$ to keep sending letters. If you have spare resources during these times, we would really appreciate it if you could help us out and donate! Here's a link: https://www.aplos.com/aws/give/ameelio/general https://www.aplos.com/aws/give/ameelio/general

odensc 6y ago
> We are 100% committed to keeping our tools free for users > Website: "All our users can send unlimited free letters" But then in your landing page screenshot: > To celebrate Ameelio's launch, you have unlimited letters! As our community grows, you'll have access to 4 free letters a month. So which one is it? To say it's a "free communication platform" with "unlimited free letters" but then to limit it to 4 letters/mo as your "community grows" is disingenuous.
- jessehorne 6y ago
  To be honest the 4 letter cap comment is just in case we run out of funding and is subject to change depending on the situation. This isn't some free trial exploit. Nothing we do is disingenuous. We are 100% committed to keeping our tools free for users. I know the world is filled with businessmen trying to take your money, but that's not us. But thank you very much for pointing this out. We need to make sure we're more clear in the future.
  - odensc 6y ago
    That's good to hear. I think if you made it clear that the level of service you can provide is proportional to the funding you receive, it would both fix this misunderstanding and serve as an incentive for people to donate.

hackermailman 6y ago

There is already a similar service but it costs (very little) money called jmail.cc that I've been using that prints out letters and photos and mail them for you. As an ex US federal prisoner (long story, teenager, petty financial hacking crime, extradited from a foreign country years ago) I am intimately aware of the terribad state of Jpay and corrlinks and all the other overpriced communciations methods for prisoners. What I do now is whenever I want to buy a new technical book I usually send it to a random prisoner not incarcerated for something heinous and do it with them via letters, it's good motivation because once a guy in jail for cheque kiting absolutely slayed a vector calculus book I was trying to do and I had to pick up the pace in order to keep up with him. HN has their list of 'request for startups' and one of them is employ over 1 million ppl and I've always thought that the perfect situation for this is prisoners if you can somehow navigate the political arena to make it happen. There's just tons of people there willing to work and do anything to improve their situation, as long as you aren't Ikea maximum profiteering off convicts and help them as much as you help yourself everything should be cool.

jessehorne 6y ago
I've seriously enjoyed reading your comments. Would love to get in touch sometime and discuss some ideas. I think the book idea you do is awesome. My email is in my profile. Please reach out if you see this!
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

sanj 6y ago

Are you all working with https://www.flikshop.com/ https://www.flikshop.com/ ? If not, I’m happy to put you in contact. Do you have any (formerly?) incarcerated members on your leadership team?

rshnotsecure 6y ago

This is just Zoom. The partners and sponsors almost all conspicuously mention Zoom meetings and Zoom Celebrations on their websites. Especially because of the major WSJ story today on Zoom and the origins of the Coronavirus, it seems very implausible that anyone mentions Zoom anymore overtly without having an agenda. The co-founders are all from Yale, and have the best of intentions, but don't realize they have to some extent been manipulated. I think this phrase was a little concerning as well. There is a decent historical record that has been built up over the last 10 years of stuff like this being abused: "We also use machine learning tools to make predictions". What are they trying to forecast? When did talking and letter writing necessarily need machine learning? I'm not at all saying it is dumb...but we should approach all of this with caution and hesitancy.

Zoorchingwa 6y ago
Hi, I'm Zo (co-founder). We have no affiliation with Zoom. But given the fortune they’ve made recently, we would certainly appreciate it if they donated (https://bit.ly/2z7J4CP https://bit.ly/2z7J4CP). While many of us are Yale students, we come varying backgrounds. I'm a Nigerian-American (born in Chicago, spent my early childhood in Nigeria, and now live in CT). Gabe is Brazilian, Jesse is from Iowa, etc. We all connected on this project because we are committed to social innovation and want to do all we can to stop the exploitation of loved ones of incarcerated people, who are disproportionately low-income. Re data and prediction: scholars of incarceration lament the dearth of data on the criminal justice system. NYTimes- “Missing: Criminal Justice Data” (https://nyti.ms/2FUEkDq)— https://nyti.ms/2FUEkDq)— “Criminal justice data in this country is hard to come by. It can be messy and difficult to understand. And in many cases, the data doesn’t exist at all...Missing data is at the core of a national crisis.” John Pfaff- Locked In (https://amzn.to/3aZYB5X)— https://amzn.to/3aZYB5X)— “Perhaps even more troubling, there are some issues where we simply have no data, where almost nothing at all is gathered.” Elected officials are creating criminal justice policies, that impact millions, with limited information. We want to inform better policymaking using data analytics. The folks are Measure of Justice (https://measuresforjustice.org/about/overview https://measuresforjustice.org/about/overview) are leading way, and we want to help where we can. Scholars of algorithmic bias have convinced me that algorithmic risk assessment has disparate impact on minority groups, so I’m personally not in favor of these tools (https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/1/eaao5580; https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/1/eaao5580; https://ssrn.com/abstract=3257004 https://ssrn.com/abstract=3257004). We will not be doing any risk assessment etc. Using past data to better understand and predict how the state prison populations might change in the future could yield insightful information. In my home state of CT, “between 2008 and 2018, the state prison population has fallen by 30 percent, and the minority prison population has dropped by 32 percent” (https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2019/02/13/ct-prison-population-on-the-decline/ https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2019/02/13/ct-prison-populati...). The article also notes: “Marc Pelka, undersecretary of the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management’s Criminal Justice Policy and Planning Division, told the News that while it is “hard to pinpoint a single policy or trend,” he named a few reasons for the decline in state prison population.” Understanding why states like CT have been effective in reducing their prison population could help other states do the same. I really appreciate the feedback, we will make our language around data analytics more clear. Please keep the comments coming! Zo

pikwip 6y ago

This looks fantastic. One bit of feedback: the lack of a Paypal option for donating almost stopped me from donating. The fees might be worth the security guarantee.

jessehorne 6y ago
We'll get that fixed ASAP.

downshun 6y ago

Seems like a worthy goal. Hoping for your success. Some sour negativity for good balance, from someone unfamiliar with criminal systems : Are there mechanisms in place for verification of the sender and some potential criminal misuse of your platform?

throwaway13239 6y ago

Awesome mission, wishing you guys all the best. But Ameelio sounds like Emilio. Using latino men's names is probably not the most appropriate idea for this