[Peace] jail phone issues

[Sandra Ahten]

Following is a brief primer on points to made at
the County Board meeting this Thursday night. (Jan. 20, 7pm Brookens 
Administration
Bldg., 1776 E. Washington, Urbana).

Can you please attend? Can you please be a speaker? If so, I have some
letters to be read -- from people that have been effected by the phone
contract but can't be at the meeting. Or I would just ask you to speak from
your heart. Please let me know.

If you can't come to the meeting please just read the primer and call your 3
representatives. Here is a link to the county board page, where you can see
a map and get contact info.

http://www.co.champaign.il.us/cbhome.htm

Please make sure you've signed our petition.
http://www.petitiononline.com/cucfpj/petition.html

Please make sure you send that lists/  groups that you belong to.

Thanks,
Sandra Ahten



BASIC INFORMATION

All jail inmate calls from the county jail, even local calls must be placed
as collect calls. The charges for these calls is highly inflated from what
would normally be charged for collect calls.  The telephone company, who has
an exclusive contract with the Champaign County then kicks back $14,000 each
month to the County.

The contract between the Evercom Systems, (the telephone company) and the
County refers to this as kickback as “compensation,” however, this term is
misleading as the county is not being compensated for any product or
services.

This $14,000 per month is money above and beyond Evercom’s profit and comes
directly from the families and the friends of the inmates who are forced to
pay these exorbitant charges in order to communicate with their loved ones.
The County does not have any obligations or costs related to the jail inmate
phone service, yet it is the general fund of the County that receives the
$14,000 ($168,000 per year).


COMPARISON OF COST OF CALLS
A 15 minute collect call from a home phone in Urbana to Tuscola using AT&T
would cost $4.51. A collect call from the county jail in Urbana would cost
$6.56. The call from the jail is 45% more expensive.

Seventy three percent of all calls made by inmates from the county jail are
actually local calls that outside of jail would very rarely be made collect
and so would cost 50 cents or less.

Local calls under this contract cost $2.88 surcharge & .2446 1st minute and
.2159 each additional minute.


ALTERNATIVES
There are many alternatives to the present contract. The simplest being the
same equipment and services with the same company but without the $14,000
per month.

This would legally  need to be released for bid – in which case the lowest
rates for the inmate calls would be known.

In addition there are many other alternatives being offered in institutions
throughout the state and country – We believe the adminstrator should be
aware and research all of these options.

TIMING OF NEGOTATIONS

The contract was set to expire on Feb. 1, 2005. It has a thirty day clause
that allows it to be renewed if agreed by the county on Jan. 1, 2005.
Because Denny Inman the county administrator failed to notify the county
board in a timely manner that the contract was set to expire he was forced
to get a 30 day extension of the contract just to be in legal compliance.

This was a hotly debated contract 2 years ago when 7 county board members
voted against it – but they were in the same position then as they are now
(not having enough time to ask for public input or to properly negotiate the
contract.) Democratic Tom Betz is officially on record (2 years ago) as
stating that he wanted at least a six month notice before the contract
needed to be negotiated again.

This contract is now before the Finance Committee who is expected to make a
recommendation to the board as a whole during the February meeting. Democrat
Brendan McGent, who chairs the finance committee, has said that to be in the
best negotiating position it will mean not being under the gun of the
contract deadline and he seems to believe he can make that happen.

BUDGET CONCERNS
The county passed their 2005 budget in November without giving consideration
to the fact that this contract was coming up and that the $168,000 might not
be available as revenue. The county has a revenue of about $80 million
dollars. $168,000 represents less than two tenths of a percent (.2%) of
their revenue stream.

When discussing the phone contract often the Sheriff or board members who
want to justify their position bring up the fact that they spend more than
$30,000 per month on health services at the jail. They do not say how much
of this health service is offset by the fee inmates pay for these services
or for money that is made of off selling things at the commissary – nor
should they – because in fact all of this goes to the general fund of the
county – it is not as if they have charge for one service so that they can
have another service. The revenue from Evercom goes into the general fund of
the county. The county ended the year more than $500,000 in the black last
year.


THE HEART OF THE ARGUMENT

Fifty seven percent of the people in our county jail are there because they
can not meet their bond amount and so have to await their court date in
jail. Those whose families can afford to bail them out usually do so. These
people are not more guilty than those who can bond themselves out – they are
poorer.

Many families entirely lose their phone service due to the high cost of the
phone calls. Terrell Layfield’s family – (the most recent of 3 alleged
suicide at the jail in the last six months) was one such family.

This is an unfair tax on the poor and is ethically unsound. The county could
choose to balance it budget by charging people to walk on sidewalks/ They
could charge people who visit at the jail $10 each time they visit. They
could install pay toilets at the jail. But these are not the right way to
fund a county.

If the person is guilty, the best chance for reform and in turn less
recidivism is through maintaining contact with family and community.

There are untold hardships associated with not being able to make phone
calls from jail – for example.
--Because the public defenders office is so overworked and backed up, it is
a rare occasion when a public defenders would ever return phone calls or go
visit the jail. Many times, if the family has not maintained pressure on the
public defender’s office to get details and work on the case the first time
a public defender will meet the accused is at the court house. Often five
minutes before trial. The accused has to have phone access with his family
in order to get any semblance of representation. In addition, even if they
have a private lawyer, just needing to make decisions with a spouce before
going to trial is important.

-- Young offenders who are 17 or 18 and live at Cunningham Childrens’ home
have no one to call – because Cunningham Childrens’ home can not bear the
extreme cost of the collect calls.

-- Children need to be able to speak with their parents and be assured of
their well being in order to have any peace of mind, affecting of course all
aspects of their lives including their health and school performance.

Churchs often take calls for inmates who, at this vulnerable time in their
life are ready to reform and need to be able to reach out to do it.

Everyday family buniness needs to be taken care of, such as deciding whether
to sell the car, cancel the appointment for braces that were planned for a
child, etc.

WHAT CU-CITIZENS FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE IS ASKING FOR WITH REGARD TO THE JAIL
PHONE CONTRACT
That the county negotiate a contract that does not contain any profit for
the county
and offers the best possible conditions for ease of communication between
the inmates and their support system.

That the county not renew the current contract with Evercom, but only renew
it so long as it takes to get a new contract out for bid.