Interview with Jessica, Sarah, Curt, Brad, Peter and Michael
JM: Did you have regular access to telephones? Jessica: In my cell we had regular access to the phones.
We were allowed to use them between 7:30am to
11:30pm. Sarah: yes between 4 am and 11:30 pm Curt: yes i did. i had minutes put on my girlfrends
phone. Brad: Yeah they had 4 phones in pod. They were adding
some more when I was there for direct line to
bondsmen. Peter: Yes, after dinner on weekdays. On weekends we
could use the phone until 11pm. Michael: Yes, though they did regulate the times you can
use them
JM: What types of charges applied for calling people? How much money would you guess the average inmate spends per week on phone calls? Jessica: You could only call people collect so it was a
couple dollars a minute for local calls. If you
wanted to call cell phones, you could set up a
paid account to do so. I never set up the
account but I'd imagine it was somewhere around
four dollars a minute. Sarah: You could use collect which is like $3 to
connect and then $1.25 per min or you could use
aprepaid account to one phone number and it was
cost about $3.00 for a 15 min conversation. Curt: $2.95 for a 15 minute block. Brad: Basically a collect call. Not sure of the rate in
Florida. Peter: It was a 15 minute call that cost about $3 per call. Michael: I think we spent about $50.00 month so about $10
or $15 week unless we were having problems at home
that required us to talk more than once a day
JM: Did you need to buy phone cards to call out? Jessica: You didn't really NEED to purchase phone cards
to make calls, but it was one of the options.
Other options included collect calls and the
calling account that someone on the other end
would have to set it up. Sarah: It wouldn't take phone cards Curt: no. but you could buy one if you wanted. Brad: No phone cards but you could buy time in a phone
account for like 40 cents a minute. Peter: No. It would charge the persons land line account. Michael: You can or money can be put on phone from the outside.
JM: Did the jail screen your calls? Jessica: Of course the jail screened our calls. They had
to make sure there was no talk of violence or
escape. Also, no three-way calling was allowed
or there would be repercussions like loss of
phone privileges or lock-down. Sarah: yes Curt: yes they stated it before every call. Brad: Of coruse they do. They say your calls are
subject to monitoring but I'm sure they monitor
every call. Peter: Yes, just about every call Michael: Yes they did and they have gone to voice
recognition as well