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Illinois Campaign for Telephone Justice
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The Illinois Campaign for Telephone Justice is seeking relief from the high cost of prison telephone calls from the Illinois Department of Corrections. Inmate families and others are charged exhorbitant phone rates and connection fees many times that of ordinary public rates. IDOC receives millions of dollars in commission kickbacks from Consolidated Public Services for an exclusive contract with Illinois. ICTJ wants the state to STOP this extortion NOW and abolish the outrageous connection fees and kickback commissions.
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Piggy for Profits
~ from Illinois Prison Talk editorials
The Illinois Department of Corrections has a cash cow…er, pig. It’s called inmate family phone calls.  The IDOC has conspired with Consolidated Public Services to squeeze $$millions of dollars from inmate phone calls to family, friends and legal counsels. The average phone call from an Illinois correctional facility within the state is approximately $10 for a 30-minute call. Outside Illinois the calls can reach upwards of $30 - $40 each. This doesn’t include the maximum percentage of universal taxes levied either. Not only does the IDOC not care that these outrageous rates are crippling communications between families, but they thrive on the outlandish commission kickbacks paid by Consolidated to ensure their exclusivity on the prison phone scam.
Millions of dollars pour into the IDOC yearly. Those bearing the burden of this strong-armed robbery are oftentimes the single-parent families who only want to keep in contact with an incarcerated spouse or parent. The IDOC should be more concerned about fostering good family ties with inmates rather than how much of their money they can suck out of them for fat profits. Some families must decide whether they can buy groceries or talk to Daddy each month.
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We Need Your Help
Join the ICTJ and support prison telephone reform in Illinois. Please sign the on-line petition and spread the word. Volunteer your help. Organize your groups for the petition effort by printing copies of the paper petition and collecting signatures. Contact your Illinois legislators and voice your concerns. This is an issue that affects everyone involved with our inmate population. Help us stay connected.
Illinois Campaign for Telephone Justice
P.O.Box 611
Lombard, Illinois 60148 http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/IllinoisTelephoneJustice/index.html
Sponsored by:
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Illlinois Congressman Bobby Rush has re-introduced a Family Telephone Connection Protection Act in the US House of Representatives. The bill, introduced Jan. 18, 2007,
is asking the Federal Communications Commission to regulate the telephone service providers of penal institutions and curtail the high cost of connection fees from inmates to families/friends.