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NEW YORK---This week, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed its appeal brief in Walton v. NYSDOCS with the New York State Court of Appeals, the state's highest court. The lawsuit seeks an order prohibiting the State and Verizon/MCI from charging exorbitant rates to the family members of prisoners to finance a 57.5% kickback to the State.
Verizon/MCI is currently charging these family members a 630% markup over consumer rates to receive a collect call from their loved ones, the only method of calling from a Department of Correctional Services institution.
"It is long past time for the New York Courts to consider this case," stated Rachael Meeropol, a Center for Constitutional Rights attorney representing plaintiffs in the case. "For over a decade, family members of prisoners who live hours away from where their loved ones are incarcerated have had to spend hundreds of dollars a month keeping in touch by phone. Hopefully the court will do the right thing, and finally put an end to this unjust contract."
http://ccr-ny.org/v2/legal/justice/docs/Walton_Appeal_Brief.pdf
The rates under this contract charge family members 630% more than typical consumer rates to talk with loved ones in New York State Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) prisons. New York State gets a 57.5% kickback on the phone company's profits.
The Court of Appeals granted leave to appeal earlier this year, after CCR drew attention to the way in which the lower court's dismissal of the case "wrongly insulated the illegal actions of the NYSDOCS and Verizon/MCI from judicial review for years to come." CCR sought review by the highest court, which is a matter of discretion, based on the fact that the plaintiffs "underlying claims - that their Constitutional right to due process, freedom of speech and association, and equal protection under the law are violated by a discriminatory and burdensome tax levied by the NYSDOCS each month without legislative authorization - are timely, are of statewide importance, and merit review by this Court."
CCR also welcomed a friend of the Court brief by the Legal Aid Society, an organization that provides free legal services to indigent people and litigates to protect prisoners' rights. The Legal Aid Society also urged the Court of Appeals to review the case, based on the "important issues raised and their statewide significance."
"I can't afford to talk to my son now under Verizon's rates," said Ivey Walton, a plaintiff in the case. "No one should be cut off from their family, just so the State can make a profit. I'm praying the courts will correct this injustice and help keep our families together."
A legislative solution to this phone contract is the Family Connections Bill (S.5299-D) which moved from the N.Y. State Senate Committee on Crime Victims, Corrections, and Crime to the Senate Finance Committee in early January, but did not move out of committee and was not considered by the Senate before the close of the legislative session in June.
The Assembly version of the bill (A.7231-D) passed before session's end.
For more information about the issue, see http://www.telephonejustice.org/home.asp.
For someone incarcerated in a New York State prison to call collect to a loved one, Verizon/MCI currently charges $3 to initiate the call and 16¢ per minute.
To provide phone service for the general public, Verizon/MCI advertises rates as low as $5 per month for service and 5¢ per minute.
The average prison phone call is billed at 19 minutes, costing just over $6-a mark up of more than 630%!
There are 3,335 collect call-only telephones available to the 66,000 inmates in 71 New York State Department of Correctional Services facilities.
Approximately 500,000 calls from prisons are now completed each month, totaling more than 9.5 million minutes.
In fiscal year 2002, New York State prisoners made 7 million collect calls totaling more than 124 million minutes, generating gross revenues exceeding $39 million. New York State collects 57.5% of this gross, $22.4 million in FY2002. NYS has collected over $175 million from this contract since its inception in 1996.
A landmark study from the California Department of Corrections and numerous follow-up studies have showed that men and women in prison who maintain relationships with their loved ones are more likely to complete their parole without incident.
More than 80% of the state's prisoners come from poor New York City neighborhoods, according to the Albany based Center for Law and Justice. With two-thirds of the prison facilities located three hours or more from New York City, telephone calls become a critical means for families to keep in touch.
Seventy-five percent of New York State prisoners have no high school diploma, according to the Correctional Association, making letter writing and other written communication more difficult.
Those incarcerated in federal prisons can use an 800 toll-free number which typically costs 7¢ per minute.
The correctional phone market is worth well over $1 billion a year, according to the Florida Prisoners Legal Aid Organization. 9-21-06
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© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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