Jails banned in-person visits in order to maximize revenue from voice and video calls as part of a "quid pro quo kickback scheme" with prison phone companies (arstechnica.com)

submitted 6 months ago by tree@lemmy.ml to c/news@hexbear.net

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/13937769

Across the United States, hundreds of jails have eliminated in-person family visits over the last decade. Why has this happened? The answer highlights a profound flaw in how decisions too often get made in our legal system: for-profit jail telecom companies realized that they could earn more profit from phone and video calls if jails eliminated free in-person visits for families. So the companies offered sheriffs and county jails across the country a deal: if you eliminate family visits, we'll give you a cut of the increased profits from the larger number of calls. This led to a wave across the country, as local jails sought to supplement their budgets with hundreds of millions of dollars in cash from some of the poorest families in our society.

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[-] supafuzz@hexbear.net 14 points 6 months ago

there are so many guns in America, how is this stuff able to go on

[-] Bartsbigbugbag@lemmy.ml 8 points 6 months ago

Because the guns are in the hands of the fascists. The reason we even have the right to guns is so the settlers could massacre indigenous. Whenever other groups make an effort to show their rights, the laws change. Ronald Reagan was the catalyst behind californias gun bans because the Black Panther Party for Self Defense were using the inherent power of guns to ensure the respect of rights for black and brown people.

this post was submitted on 01 Apr 2024

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