Transcription
Date: 5/29/2019 12:53:42 AM
May 25, 2019
HARLAN RICHARDS
A New Phone System Comes to Wisconsin
The new administrator of the Division of Adult Institutions, Makda Fessahaye, announced a new phone system for prisoners. It will go into question in the work release centers and Oakhill in June, and in the other prisons in July.
Under the current system, people who want calls from a prisoner must set up a Securus account where they can list up to seven numbers. They must pay 12 cents per minute in-state and 18 cents per minute out of state.
Under the new system, prisoners can open their own account and call whomever they want. All calls are six cents per minute. I have no idea whether we will have to submit numbers for pre-approval or whether we can dial anyone and talk to them if they choose to answer. Regardless, this is a great step forward for Wisconsin prisoners.
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Replies (2)
The new phone system sounded good...but when I tried to set up an account...I was told that the 6 cents per minute would only go into affect once all the prisons in the state were set up...not before...and they had no idea when it might drop from 12 cents to 6 cents.
Also...the old system charged $3 per transaction and you could put a maximum of $250 on the account per transaction. Now it's $5.95 per transaction and you can only put $100 on at a time. So significantly more processing charges.
Plus when John tried to call last week, it said there was no money on the account....when there is. So still bugs there too.
Considering making phone calls to me is John's main connection to the outside world and his only personal expense other than bare necessities, it's too bad the price has gone up significantly.
Maybe the service will get better and the pricing will drop (as originally quoted) but I'm still disgruntled about the processing fee taking such a huge hike.
Evy