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Telephones

Interview with Karl and Wilford

JM: Did you have regular access to telephones?
Karl: Yes. Unless you were "locked-down" for some misbehavior, collect-call telephones were turned on from about 9:00 am until just before lock-in at 11:15 pm. If you were "locked-down" you were permitted to have a 5 minute phone call each day, upon request to your wing officer.
Wilford: yes. all the time, but they are very expensive.

JM: What types of charges applied for calling people? How much money would you guess the average inmate spends per week on phone calls?
Karl: if you made local calls, I believe they charged $1.63 for the first minute and .09 for each additional minute. I overheard some inmates talking about long-distance calls, which were fairly expensive, more on the order of $50 to $60 for an hour or so.
Wilford: 1.75 to connect, 10 cents a minute after that. 30 minute limit on the calls then it hangs up on you. its about 5 dollars for a 30 minute call. i have seen inmates spend over 100 dollars a week on the phone. i would guess the average inmate spends 10-15 dollars a week on the phone

JM: Did you need to buy phone cards to call out?
Karl: No, but your called party had to accept the call. Some inmates would call and try to leave short messages on answering machines, which was not always successful.
Wilford: when i was there they dident sell phone cards on commissary. i called collect

JM: Did the jail screen your calls?
Karl: As far as I know, the calls were monitored randomly, and the information was used to initiate various prosecutions, but nothing untoward happened on my block, "H" block, during the time I was there.
Wilford: they said they do. i dont know for sure though.

Read about how inmates pass the time in the Niagara County Jail