Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Photo
Rep. Mark Pocan: “It is unconscionable that companies profiting off of mass incarceration would not stop their profiteering in the face of a global pandemic.”
As prisons and jails nationwide suspend visitations to slow the spread of COVID-19, the country’s largest private providers of communications services to inmates are being lauded by corrections officials for offering to help a vulnerable population stay in touch with family and friends.
In a March 17 press release, for example, Oregon’s Department of Corrections announced a partnership with communications service provider Global Tel Link (GTL) to offer all adults in custody two five-minute phone calls per week for the next 30 days.
The agency praised GTL “for this act of understanding, support, and compassion during this difficult time … Efforts to maintain family connections between those incarcerated and their loved ones are essential, especially in stressful times.”
But while mass layoffs and imminent business closures sweep the country, prison telecom companies like GTL and its closest rival Securus will continue to reap nationwide profits from mass incarceration—with one federal lawmaker calling their crisis support efforts a “hollow corporate altruism campaign.”
Both companies, which control the lion’s share of the $1.2 billion prison telecom market,
are owned by private equity firms that have helped concentrate corporate power in prisons through debt-fueled buyouts and mergers.
GTL has managed to subvert its magnanimous offer of free phone calls by using what is often known in the tech world as “dark patterns,” confusing customers into paying more money for the privilege.
Inmates in facilities that contract with GTL initiate phone and video calls through prepaid accounts managed by the company, the result of an acquisition of the prison money-transfer firm TouchPay. Family members typically add funds to these accounts through apps, websites, or in-person kiosks.
When depositing money on GTL’s “Getting Out” payment platform, users are asked if they want to “round up” their deposit. Those who deposit an additional $5 or $10 receive one or two “free calls,” respectively.
Screenshot from GTL’s payment website, gettingout.com
The company charges state prisoners $0.16 per minute for in-state calls, which comes out to $0.80 for a five-minute call.
If Oregon’s 14,500 prisoners in state custody each “rounded up” deposits by $10 to receive ten extra minutes to talk to their families, GTL could earn an additional $121,800. That amount doesn’t include taxes and other fees, which the company claims “are passed through to the end user without markup.”
Nationwide profits from such arrangements during the crisis could end up being much higher, as state prisons and county jails across the country have similar offers in place with GTL, which serves approximately 2,300 facilities and 1.8 million inmates in 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
High fees on GTL’s deposit accounts are commonplace. In one instance, inmate accounts associated with a facility referred to as “Fort Worth GTL Office-Tablets” have to pay over $10 in fees simply to deposit $25 into their accounts.
Screenshot
Inmates in Miami-Dade County, Florida, currently must pay nearly $8 to make a $25 deposit into their accounts. Prisoners there don’t appear to be receiving any free calls from GTL, but the company still offers the opportunity to “round up” payments.
GTL Communications Director Randy Brown declined to respond on the record to a series of questions about the company’s free calling agreements with prisons and jails, instead providing the following prepared statement:
GTL is working closely with our facility customers on a daily basis as they build customized solutions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are providing calls and additional services for free to help incarcerated individuals maintain connections with their loved ones during this time and will continue to support our facility customers as they tackle this unprecedented situation.
Oregon leaders have previously balked at renegotiating exploitative and lucrative prison phone contracts, and a lack of competition coupled with reliance on kickback deals to fund state and local budgets means government officials have little leverage to negotiate for support—especially during a crisis.
For example: California’s state prison system, which currently houses over 115,000 people, announced with little fanfare that GTL would be offering just two days of free calling for inmates—March 19 and March 26.
In addition to upselling programs for free calls, GTL has also made deals to provide “free” tablets to inmates in states like New York, while securing higher rates for emails and other services. The free distribution of the tablets, a one-time fixed cost, is expected to reap $8.8 million in revenues over a five-year period.
“It is unconscionable—but wholly expected—that companies profiting off of mass incarceration would not stop their profiteering in the face of a global pandemic,” said Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI), after being made aware of some of GTL’s arrangements across the country.
Last year, Pocan, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and recent Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to American Securities, the New York private equity firm that owns GTL, asking for more information about its ties to private prison services industries:
“We have concerns about the role American Securities and other private equity firms are playing in the continued consolidation of these profit-seeking companies, the decline in quality of the services they provide, and the effects on incarcerated individuals, their families, and their communities.”
Pocan’s office said it is unaware of any response from American Securities since then. Spokespersons for Warren and Ocasio-Cortez did not respond to requests as to whether they had received a reply.
Firms rolling up prison services industries have faced particular scrutiny in recent years, because of their investments in business models that profit from a racist and broken criminal justice system disproportionately impacting poor and minority members of society.
Billionaire and Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores told the Los Angeles Times he underestimated the “headline risk” and backlash from activists when he acquired Securus in 2017 through his private equity firm, Platinum Equity.
Pressure from activists led to Platinum calling off Securus lobbying efforts in Connecticut last year, where lawmakers were considering a bill that would make the state the first in the nation to provide free phone calls to prisoners.
GTL has also been involved in multiple class action lawsuits across the country, which include allegations of charging “unnecessary and unconscionable” rates to inmates and their families. In Mississippi, GTL settled a case for $2.5 million, alleging that the company bribed corrections officials. GTL admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement, and continues to provide phone service to inmates in the state.
“We have always acted with integrity,” GTL CEO Brian Oliver said at the time. “So why are we settling? We can spend the next three years focused on innovation or litigation. We choose innovation.”
