Jails banned visits in “quid pro quo” with prison phone companies, lawsuits say
arstechnica.com
Civil rights group sues two counties, says hundreds more have banned visits.

Across the United States, hundreds of jails have eliminated in-person family visits over the last decade. Why has this happened? The answer highlights a profound flaw in how decisions too often get made in our legal system: for-profit jail telecom companies realized that they could earn more profit from phone and video calls if jails eliminated free in-person visits for families. So the companies offered sheriffs and county jails across the country a deal: if you eliminate family visits, we’ll give you a cut of the increased profits from the larger number of calls. This led to a wave across the country, as local jails sought to supplement their budgets with hundreds of millions of dollars in cash from some of the poorest families in our society.

  • Verdant Banana@lemmy.world
    14·
    8 months ago

    another article on more broken campaign promises by Biden and prosecutor Harris

    even though the Democrats and Republicans both are responsible for this mess the Democrats are likely to blame Republicans and try to raise funds off it

    works every time

      • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world
        12·
        8 months ago

        Can’t we just be pissed off that the federal government is allowing this to happen? I know OP specifically called out campaign promises, but they absolutely could and should fix this, congress and the executive branch don’t care.

        It is absolutely on them that this is still a thing even if OP is misdirecting.

        • neatchee@lemmy.world
          29·
          8 months ago

          Totally still pissed. Just not down with people exploiting that emotion to spread misinformation

        • Landmammals@lemmy.world
          21·
          8 months ago

          The article mentions a lot of county jails, but are federal prisons doing this? I’m pretty sure the executive branch isn’t in charge of county jails.

          I think the supreme Court could probably decide that this is cruel and unusual punishment. Or that Congress could pass a federal law setting regulations for local jails.

          I’m not a jail expert, but this sounds like something Biden has no control over.

    • zout@fedia.io
      40·
      8 months ago

      Looks to me like you’re a republican trying to blame democrats.

      • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
        18·
        8 months ago

        No point in fighting over it. Both major parties have contributed to the profit prison system, and Biden undeniably did by championing the regressive 94 Crime Bill.

        • YottaDren@lemmy.world
          9·
          8 months ago

          Yes, but seeing as they make so many mistakes, it’s important to hold them to things they actually did. Not just make up stuff.

        • zout@fedia.io
          8·
          8 months ago

          I wasn’t fighting over it, I was just name calling. You know, saying it like it is.

      • DessertStorms@kbin.social
        9·
        8 months ago

        Looks to me like you’re so indoctrinated by to the two party system that you can’t even fathom that someone might hate both parties (because they 100% serve the same people and goals), and hell, the system in its entirety… 🙄

        Gotta love an “enlightened” centrist lol

        • Landmammals@lemmy.world
          16·
          8 months ago

          Not really about an endorsement of the two-party system. When you go to the gas pump and see a picture of biden’s face with an I did that sticker, it’s a pretty safe bet that the person who put that up is a Republican.

          Likewise, when you see someone criticizing the Biden administration for things that county jails are doing, safe bet it’s a Republican.

          But apparently your definition of enlightened centerists includes people who know what the executive branch actually controls.

          Biden doesn’t have a gas price dial on his desk, and doesn’t set visitation policies for county jails.

          • ieatpillowtags@lemm.ee
            2·
            8 months ago

            Or it’s one of the Russians paid to sow discord across social media platforms, same as they’ve been doing since 2016 at least.

        • zout@fedia.io
          5·
          8 months ago

          I’ m from a country with a 20+ party system, so I can imagine quite well. Also, US centrist is far right over here.