Luis D. Perez W33937
NCCI - GARDNER, P.O. Box 466
Gardner, Massachusetts 01440

August 28, 2018

GREETINGS!

This article is dedicated to the families and friends who are tracking down businesses in correctional facilities. The immediate issue is with the SECURE TECHNOLOGIES telephone company who have signed a contract with the Department of Corrections.

As of today, the phone system in State Correctional Institutions has a fair deal on services with the exception of county jails, charging pre-trial inmates as much as $25 for a 15-minute call (please read the enclosed information).

Back in June of 2012, I was engaged with the same kind of dilemma, when we had to pay a 71 cents surcharge for accepting the call and 9 cents for additional minutes. You will also find copies of some of the email exchanges that I had with the people who attended a convention discussing the gouging prices by the prison telephone system in the country.

One of the prior encounters was with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) who indicated that they can't intervene in gouging price claims or in products sold by companies that have contracts with the Department of Corrections because we, as prisoners, are a third party customer. The complaint has to be made by the agency who signed the contract, in this case the Department of Corrections.

The companies that have business with the correctional facilities have no competition by any other company. The DOC will not make complaints to the contractor company because they get a piece of the pie. IF SECURUS TECHNOLOGIES merge with the ICSolutions, you can be sure that it is a matter of time that we in state facilities will suffer the same impact of higher costs for calls, like the one being conducted in county jails. The Federal Communication Commission may step in and block the company from gouging us prisoners and their family and friends.

In the struggle,
Luis D. Perez
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