Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Hold the phone!
My sense of justice has been offended, and while this will not touch many of you on a personal level, here goes anyway. Have you heard about the proposed state contract with an Alabama company to provide telephone services for inmates in state prisons?
Just in case you do not know, the cost of these services is really shocking. It is almost $7 for 15 minutes and all calls are, of necessity, collect. This obviously puts a tremendous burden on poor families that already have a lot going wrong. I will be the first to concede that most of the folks in prisons are not worth talking to, but these are family members – presumably even children.
The state makes good money on the deal and so does the company. Now, understand that I am a capitalist and I have no objection to anybody making money – even a lot of money. Still, there is such unfairness in this situation in which neither the inmate nor the innocent family members have any choice over what can be an enormous bill.
The state officials are thinking this contract over and it seems to me that they should seriously consider asking the telephone provider to come down with the price on those calls. An ordinary sense of justice and decency seems to require that much.
(Broadcast December 12, 2006)
Just in case you do not know, the cost of these services is really shocking. It is almost $7 for 15 minutes and all calls are, of necessity, collect. This obviously puts a tremendous burden on poor families that already have a lot going wrong. I will be the first to concede that most of the folks in prisons are not worth talking to, but these are family members – presumably even children.
The state makes good money on the deal and so does the company. Now, understand that I am a capitalist and I have no objection to anybody making money – even a lot of money. Still, there is such unfairness in this situation in which neither the inmate nor the innocent family members have any choice over what can be an enormous bill.
The state officials are thinking this contract over and it seems to me that they should seriously consider asking the telephone provider to come down with the price on those calls. An ordinary sense of justice and decency seems to require that much.
(Broadcast December 12, 2006)
