subject: Who Are The Criminals? Very Highs Costs Of Calling From Prison [print this page] Undoubtedly, people who have gotten a sentence committed serious crimes and they are dangerous for all of us- the other people. After all, that is why they are isolated from the others, right? However, is just one mistake enough to make us treat the prisoners like they were no humans? You are wondering what I am talking about? Well, you will figure it out in a while...
There are plenty of examples which could be given for support to the previous statement. For instance, the US correct institutions decided on limiting the duration of phone calls from jail. Can't the inmates have access to the world outdoors just because they committed a crime? The truth is that having committed a crime, they are dangerous for the society but it does not make them no-humans or something like that. The inmates also have needs and long to have contacts with their family and relatives outdoors.
Of course, the United States correct institutions do not forbid any inmate to communicate, at least not officially. Yes, I know that USA is known to be the most democratic country and it really is but when inmates are concerned, things change a little bit.
Have you ever been told that it is nearly possible for a prisoner to make a call from jail due to the severe restrictions of the US correct institutions? No, you haven't? You've got to be kidding, right? If you have not noticed, this is irony! Actually, very few people know that making a call from prison is hardly possible due to the extremely high rates of costs. The truth is that a phone call from jail could be made only if any of the inmate's relatives have paid in advance (the so called pre-payment). I bet that it doesn't feel good your contacts with the world to depend upon somebody else's will. Wouldn't you agree?
Anyway, I am sure that most of you will not believe it until they are given information exactly what the rate of costs is for making a phone call from jail. Trust me, the rate of costs is definitely not good affordable, especially for an inmate. Just read carefully. If a prisoner wants to make a phone call directed into a location inside the prison's state there is a flat rate of $3.50. But if you an inmate wants to call to somebody who is outside the jail's state, then he will be charged $5.00 as a flat rate plus $0.89 per minute. Pretty affordable for a person in jail, don't you think so? Let's make a simple calculation: the inmate's family is outside the state and he wants to speak to them 5 minutes every day- this makes 150 minutes per month. So the inmate will need $150 (30x5) for the flat rate and $133.5 (150 minutes x $0.89). What is the conclusion? Nearly $300 per month is needed for communicating with your relatives! But even if a person in jail had the money, he would not be able to communicate so often. Why, you may ask? Because there is a limit of the internal and external phone calls: this limit is usually 20 minutes. So, a woman's voice will gently remind you that your conversation will be ended automatically when the limit is reached.
