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Telephones

Interview with Jenna, Mel, Bonnie, Ashley, Aaron, Walter, Shawn, Mimi, Saul, Heather, Ricky, Sterling, Doug and George

JM: Did you have regular access to telephones?
Jenna: Yes there is a telephone in each block, but they are cut off at I believe 9 or 10 at night until 6am. The only thing is that the phone is in the same small quarters as the television, and you find it hard to hold a conversation. It's best to use it first thing in the morning, or just before lockdown.
Mel: Yes.
Bonnie: No, they like to pretend like they offer that, but the phones never worked and if you were able to dial out, they would hang up on whomever you were calling.
Ashley: yes
Aaron: When in your cell. Blockk yes. Well yes. To a certain extent. There's usually always someone claiming it one after another.
Walter: Yes, there was one for the dorm to use. It's on from about 8am to 10 pm. It only worked to call certain numbers tho, mostly land lines.
Shawn: Yes there were telephones to use but you had to call collect
Mimi: Yes, there are 2 phones in each unit.
Saul: Yes there was a daily schedule to use the phones
Heather: No alot of the times they were not working or the lines were long plus the correction officer could decide not to turn them on at all.
Ricky: Yes but access times were controlled and you had to be patient.
Sterling: Sure if you can afford it. There are times when they take phones away but rarely for the entire day.
Doug: yes in each room was a phone.
George: we had access to telephones, but the prices were outragious.

JM: What types of charges applied for calling people? How much money would you guess the average inmate spends per week on phone calls?
Jenna: Well you have to money on your phone account, I think it was like $2.00 for like 10-15 minutes (I don't really remember).
Mel: When you first attempt a call to someone, you get the first minute free. After that, the party must set up an account with PCS, so it is to your advantage to have the # ready to tell the person you're on the phone with that they have to establish an account or you will not be able to call them.
Bonnie: Not an option when the phones don't work.
Ashley: not sure. but instructions for phone use are in the blocks - BUT not in the holding cells
Aaron: It ended up being about 4 dollars a call which is disgusting. I. Witnessed people. Call out 10. Times. A day if not more.
Walter: I think it was about $3 to connect and a buck a minute. I spent about 25-40 bucks on phone calls while I was there. Plus whatever the collect calls made cost the recipient.
Shawn: I never used the phones there so I have no idea what the charges were but I would guess they make alot of money off the inmates there
Mimi: You can call a landline collect or ge the phone card and I used about $40 a week jus to make 1 call a day.
Saul: Phone calls were very expensive and limited to 15 minutes. I would guess that those that did have money would spend about $15-$20 a week.
Heather: Its not the inmate who typically pays its the friends and famliies on the other side putting money on the phone. It cost alot ..if you want to talk everyday you are looking at 100 bucks a week
Ricky: All charges were collect and I would say the average inmate charged at least ten dollars per week.
Sterling: Way too much. Calling from jail is like calling from Spain. You get one free call after that you can buy a calling card and the rates are worst than international making calls to people blocks away.
Doug: I can't remember what the charges were but I think the average inmate spends about $20 a week.
George: the average inmate who called a person at least once a day for 5 minutes, averaged 50.00 a week.

JM: Did you need to buy phone cards to call out?
Jenna: No. Money in your phone account, I think it had to be sent western union.
Mel: Yes.
Bonnie: Didn't know that was an option, nobody offered any information.
Ashley: no
Aaron: Yes. No othr choice. Unless. Yourpeople put money on THEIR pHONE
Walter: You have to call collect or use money from your account balance.
Shawn: I don't know because I never used the phones there
Mimi: Yes, I needed a phone card because all my friends and family only have cell phones, no landline.
Saul: No it was taken out of our jail account.
Heather: You could purchase a phone card off commissary if you wanted but it was a rip off
Ricky: Not when I was at the RJC.
Sterling: Yes I bought a card twice
Doug: Yes i did need to buy a phone card to call out.
George: you could buy a phone card to make calls.

JM: Did the jail screen your calls?
Jenna: I am sure they did, they screen mail.
Mel: yes.
Bonnie: haha, are they screening this questionaire?
Ashley: I don't know
Aaron: Yes of course. Its stated during your phone call.
Walter: They were all recorded and monitored according to the machines announcement at the start of all calls.
Shawn: I am pretty sure that they did
Mimi: Yes, the jail records your phone calls.
Saul: Yes the calls were monitored
Heather: oh yeah they screen and record every single call you make
Ricky: Not that I am aware of. Didn't really care anyway - their perrogative.
Sterling: Hell yeah. They are supposed to. Most of the people that get sent to PRISON not jail that shouldnt even be in jail are the ones that violated protection orders over the jail phone even when the conversation cleared them for what they were in there in the first place.
Doug: I dont know what you mean by screening the calls but the calls were recorded.
George: the jail did screen our calls.

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