3 ms·

While we’re calling out the literal evil the US prison system, this company in particular is terrible: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Securus_Technologies htt

While we’re calling out the literal evil the US prison system, this company in particular is terrible: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Securus_Technologies https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Securus_Technologies The first paragraph: “The company has been criticized for developing phone tracking technologies that can be used outside prisons and for charging very high rates for calls, in addition to pushing to mandate the removal of in-person meetings of inmates with their families.“ My family uses their subsidiary, JPay, which is just as evil.

duskwuff 5y ago
They're applying the same principle to other prisoner amenities as well. Part of Securus's strategy is renting a locked-down tablet to prisoners which can provide them with (expensive) paid access to music, books, etc -- then lobbying prisons to stop allowing prisoners to receive physical equivalents of these items in care packages. Their primary competitor, GTL, is doing the exact same thing. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blogs/the-scoop/prisoners-pay-to-read-prison-tablets/ https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blogs/the-scoop/prison... https://www.pittsburghcurrent.com/fahrenheit-412-new-rule-bans-allegheny-county-jail-inmates-from-receiving-books-reading-limited-to-214-select-e-books/ https://www.pittsburghcurrent.com/fahrenheit-412-new-rule-ba...
- sterlind 5y ago
  Access to books - or knowledge, more broadly - should be a human right. It's sickening that these companies can strip the rights of prisoners for such an obvious profit motive, and get away with it - probably because prisons are human wastebaskets, and the prisoners seen as garbage. How do I get involved in dismantling these companies and their contracts?
  - jka 5y ago
    "Prison reform" is probably the search term to begin with, and then look for advocacy groups that align with your interests and abilities to contribute from there. You might also be curious to learn about some of the Scandinavian prison models and the approaches that apply there.

duskwuff 5y ago

They're applying the same principle to other prisoner amenities as well. Part of Securus's strategy is renting a locked-down tablet to prisoners which can provide them with (expensive) paid access to music, books, etc -- then lobbying prisons to stop allowing prisoners to receive physical equivalents of these items in care packages. Their primary competitor, GTL, is doing the exact same thing. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blogs/the-scoop/prisoners-pay-to-read-prison-tablets/ https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blogs/the-scoop/prison... https://www.pittsburghcurrent.com/fahrenheit-412-new-rule-bans-allegheny-county-jail-inmates-from-receiving-books-reading-limited-to-214-select-e-books/ https://www.pittsburghcurrent.com/fahrenheit-412-new-rule-ba...

sterlind 5y ago
Access to books - or knowledge, more broadly - should be a human right. It's sickening that these companies can strip the rights of prisoners for such an obvious profit motive, and get away with it - probably because prisons are human wastebaskets, and the prisoners seen as garbage. How do I get involved in dismantling these companies and their contracts?
- jka 5y ago
  "Prison reform" is probably the search term to begin with, and then look for advocacy groups that align with your interests and abilities to contribute from there. You might also be curious to learn about some of the Scandinavian prison models and the approaches that apply there.