Rather than lower rates, Arkansas jail simply cancels all inmate phone calls

One angry sheriff takes on the FCC.

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[Chuckstar]

You are correct to correct their statement. I would add, however, that's 10% too much, and I fully expect to see a push by Trumpublicans to dramatically expand private prisons. Every function of government they privatize is another opportunity for them to fleece the taxpayer.

I think that the government should not outsource its monopoly on violence. That obviously leaves open that some services at prisons could be outsourced, but the fundamental role of keeping people prisoner should remain a government monopoly.

 

[Chuckstar]

Yes, most prisons are run by the state, but lots of things inside those prisons are outsourced to private companies.

I have no fundamental issue with a prison outsourcing food, laundry, health services, etc. It's the fundamental role of incarcerator that governments should not outsource.

 

[JPaterson]

I’m surprised that this isn’t your typically racist southerner overreacting like southerners always do. Actually misread Arkansas as Alabama at first glance.

I guess it appears all the northern red states are just as idiotic as their inbred counterparts.

 

[Da Truff]

If there was any doubt about the "kickbacks" aspect, this would seem to prove it.

 

[Chuckstar]

I’m surprised that this isn’t your typically racist southerner overreacting like southerners always do. Actually misread Arkansas as Alabama at first glance.

I guess it appears all the northern red states are just as idiotic as their inbred counterparts.

Did they move Arkansas since the last time I looked at a map?

 

[Sajuuk]

I have no fundamental issue with a prison outsourcing food, laundry, health services, etc. It's the fundamental role of incarcerator that governments should not outsource.

Right, and there's absolutely no link between that inherent monetary incentive and being the most incarcerated population on the planet.

 

[The Sheep Look Up]

One feature of this country I really didn't fully understand until recently was how many of us are just absolutely ride or die on being cruel, vindictive shitheads, and how fully that overrides every other factor, including common sense, basic decent conduct, and even self-interest.

Two young fish are swimming along when they come across an old fish swimming the other way. He greets them, "How's the water today, fellas?" and swims on. One of the young fish turns to the other and says, "What the fuck is a water?"

It's all around us and always has been. It's the invisible monster that explains why we live in wreckage, and once you've seen it it's hard to understand how anyone can't. We regularly shoot ourselves in the foot just to go out of our way to be violent and cruel. Case in point:

Cruel and unusual punishment is prohibited. Also, what's defined as cruel and unusual can change with the times. No phone calls when every other prison/jail offers it sounds unusual to me.

Extended solitary isolation is globally acknowledged as torture. It's practiced in every single lockup in America, AFAIK. Now coming to hospitals and schools near you! And that's before we start talking about Louisiana executing inmates in a method prohibited for euthanizing pets. The cruelty is usual.

 

[EricM2]

I kind of chuckle sadly at all the comments assuming there must be a cut-and-dry bit of financial corruption going on here. To be clear, there very well could be; it isn't even unlikely, though if there is it's more likely in an indirect way. But this kind of thing happens anyway. It's part of the identity these institutional cultures develop. Fundamentally it's about contempt. It's perhaps most pronounced in prisons, but happens anywhere. It's part of why I gtfo of institutional psychiatry. Police interactions and profiling. Or just your power-tripping, or perhaps insecure, boss. But the details are in the flavor of the politics. Office politics, religion, media rhetoric on seemingly unrelated issues. It's not just that "cruelty is the point" and people are villains, it's about The Way Things Work and pecking orders and self image. And money, of course, which includes job security and the personal politics necessary to justify The Way Things Work.

I think it really just comes down to the fact that reality and humanity are often incongruent with politics and institutional practices and the personal identities and systems that get built up around them. The easy path for many is to take it out on the easy target. The beatings will continue until reality conforms to expectations, and then continue anyway because that is the expectation.

That's exactly why you need to enforce laws also (and especially) against the people in power.
The U.S. had a 2-tier judical system for far too long. Be rich, never meet a judge.
Financial corruption has become the system, has become The Way Things Work.
Mandatory "With great power comes great responsibility" is a thing of the past. Today it's just optionally observed, i.e. only by intrinsically ethical persons, that choose to do so.
In contrast, the most powerful and welthy people in the country are able to completely ignore U.S. law, giving them in effect completely unchecked power without any responsibilty.

 

[Tremoré]

Sounds to me like the exact kind of person who shouldn't have power over any human being.

 

[Chuckstar]

That's exactly why you need to enforce laws also (and especially) against the people in power.
The U.S. had a 2-tier judical system for far too long. Be rich, never meet a judge.
Financial corruption has become the system, has become The Way Things Work.
Mandatory "With great power comes great responsibility" is a thing of the past. Today it's just optionally observed, i.e. only by intrinsically ethically persons.
Today, the most powerful and welthy people are able to completely ignore U.S. law, giving them in effect completely unchecked power without any responsibilty.

The rich meet judges all the time...

At the country club...

At the museum gala...

At their kid's private school's open house.

 

[LetterRip]

Why is money always the motivating factor for evil? I'm not talking about stealing a loaf of bread to feed your family, but the naked, despotic greed that destroys actual people. Fuck these people.

Psychopaths put no negative value on negative externalities, nor positive value on the welfare and benefit of others. So if they can make or save a buck by the suffering of others, then they will nearly always take that option.

Sadistic psychopaths and psychopaths who feel that those who will be suffering have 'wronged them' - see the suffering of the others as a benefit.

 

[Erbium68]

Put another way: recidivism is a feature.

Saves police time having a ready supply of identified criminals in case the arrest rate needs to go up.

I know, I'm a cynic. You know it all started in the 4th century AD? A bishop named Augustine wrote a book saying there ws such a thing as society and everybody had a propensity to wickedness which a well organised society would try to eliminate. And a monk named Pelagius said no that was wrong, there was no such thing as society and if people do wicked things, that is the result of their own deliberate decision.

Once upon a time it was the Catholics followed Augustine and the Protestants who followed Pelagius, but these days it's Augustine for the rich and Pelagius for the poor. Poor rich kid, you did $bad_thing because of affluenza, society has failed you, off to reformatory. Evil little poor bastard, you did $bad_thing because you chose to be like that, into the slammer.

 

[Sajuuk]

Oh, are we really going 100% braindead with the claim that we incarcerate so many people because of the laundry contracts? Yeah, the laundry lobby is strong in the U.S. It's right up there with the AARP and NRA.

That's not what I wrote, but congrats on being incredibly disingenuous.

 

[johnlsenchak]

Then just allow inmates to have cell phones with limited capabilities

 

[SeanJW]

Wut? Prison phones are LITERALLY a Monopoly. How can you have a "free market" when one and only one vendor is allowed to come in and setup phones, and set rates? To have a market, you'd need to have multiple vendors setting up multiple phones, all offering their own rates.

I, for one, have never heard of such a thing in a prison. Granted, I'm not an expert on prisons, and have never spent time in one.

The prisoners and their families aren't the customers for the market. They're just sheep to be shorn. The 'market' is between the institutions and the telcos.

 

[graylshaped]

Yes, most prisons are run by the state, but lots of things inside those prisons are outsourced to private companies.

You think state prisons can be shady. This is a county lock-up.

 

[CurtisHx]

It seems like every day I regret more and more one of the job I had in my 20s, which involved developing an inmate movement tracking system. I had subconscious thoughts that it would be ripe for abuse, and stories like this just make them more valid. If a technology is geared towards law enforcement, it will be abused. Develop wisely.

 

[graylshaped]

Oh, are we really going 100% braindead with the claim that we incarcerate so many people because of the laundry contracts? Yeah, the laundry lobby is strong in the U.S. It's right up there with the AARP and NRA.

You must have never done business with a large industrial laundry service. Or waste management. Or any large scale "cleaning" operation.

 

[panckage]

... which statistically increases the odds of recidivism as social ties deteriorate.

It's almost like the people running prisons don't actually want to rehabilitate incarcerated people.

What i realized recently while enjoying the guilty pleasure of watching Soft White Underbelly (interviews of people on skid row and various other hustlers. Replacement for Jerry Springer /Riki Lake etc) is that "rehabilitation centers" (usually for drugs) are just prisons where the prisoners have to pay for their own lodging, food, "treatment," and everything else.

Their "rehabilitation rates" are embarrassinly low. They pay former clients to bring in new ones to the center. What do they do with these commissions? Well they buy more drugs, of course!

Its absolutely insane

 

[Dawnrazor]

Arkansas, says it all right there.

 

[chaos215bar2]

Cruel and unusual punishment is prohibited. Also, what's defined as cruel and unusual can change with the times. No phone calls when every other prison/jail offers it sounds unusual to me.

You misunderstand. It's cruel and unusual that's a problem. Cruel or unusual are just de rigueur. (/s)

 

[Mongo McMongo]

Perhaps Sherrif Montgomery misunderstands his place in the new mobster hierarchy? If he wants senior government Republicans to help him, he needs to be helping them. Just let them wet their breaks a little too, just send a cut of the inmates' blood up the line. Pay a little respect, call them "Don", and bring a nice present to their daughter's wedding...

 

[ItchyPoo]

One feature of this country I really didn't fully understand until recently was how many of us are just absolutely ride or die on being cruel, vindictive shitheads, and how fully that overrides every other factor, including common sense, basic decent conduct, and even self-interest.

Or the fact that they all consider themselves God fearing Christian’s?

 

[ahmerali]

Don't inmates have a Constitutional right to contact their lawyer/public defender? If there are no phone calls, how do they contact their legal representation?

Constitution?

Bruv, if you think that's still a thing, look around you.

 

[Syphilitic]

I have no fundamental issue with a prison outsourcing food, laundry, health services, etc. It's the fundamental role of incarcerator that governments should not outsource.

They shouldn't charge inmates (that make like ten cents an hour) $13 for a 15-minute phone call. The bandwidth costs nothing. Jails shouldn't profit by ripping off inmates.

Something good that the FCC did? I'm surprised the new cabal hasn't killed it yet.

 

[AdrianS]

Guess how many incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people I’ve spoken to:

Zero.

Carr needs new friends. Or at least someone to talk to who isn’t a criminal.

Unless you ask everyone you meet if they've done time, you're bulshitting. There's no way you can stand by that statement.

Especially given that the US is the world leader in jailing people.

 

[SubWoofer2]

Think they need a new Sheriff as they are using the excessive rates on the phone calls as a cash cow. Vote the Bastard out!

That's right, the US system includes voting for Sherriff. It's always struck me as a very ... local way of doing things.

 

[Random_stranger]

"The love of money is the root of all evil" has been around for a loooong time.

The correct version is "The love of money is the root of all KINDS of evil", not ALL evil acts are due to love of money. But it is one of the big ones.

 

[artvandelayIIII]

Guess how many incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people I’ve spoken to:

Zero.

Carr needs new friends. Or at least someone to talk to who isn’t a criminal.

And there you have it folks: a real time demonstration of the vile self-righteousness that justifies profiting off of human suffering.

 

[EngineerX]

The inmates will just use their cell phones.

"Cell" phones.

 

[klrlogan]

Godo for the FCC. Inmate phone calls have been a cash cow for jails, and a scam from vendors. The other scam is the private debit cards they hand inmates when they are released. High fees every time it is used. Another scam and money maker for the jail.

 

[JustSome1Here]

So in sum, Baxter County Sheriff’s office is fully admitting that they are nakedly corrupt and using their prisoners need to communicate with loved ones as money bags.

 

[H2O Rip]

Oh, are we really going 100% braindead with the claim that we incarcerate so many people because of the laundry contracts? Yeah, the laundry lobby is strong in the U.S. It's right up there with the AARP and NRA.

It's closer to reality than the reasons we are hearing from Trump and Musk on why they are decimating the government. If NOAA can be a shadowy cabal of big climate change and has to get funding cut, I'd at least like the same for prisons.

What is really being identified here is that we have perverse incentives in how our incarceration system is run. It does not encourage rehabilitation. The same issue exists in other areas, like housing the homeless. It's not some big shadowy conspiracy, it's a ton of little decisions people make that are good for them, but may not be for society.

 

[Matthew J.]

What an absolute dick. Maybe it's time we need federal standards for all of our penal colonies, regardless of which level of gov't runs them.

 

[AlexIL]

To me it seems as Sheriff Thomson. All the jokes about Arkansas seems to be more truth than jokes.

 

[Dzov]

I did drive through St. Louis. The largest shantytown I've ever seen. It was incredibly sad.

I'm sure peak COVID skewed everything worse than normal. At least I hope that's not typical.

Yeah, St. Louis got redlined all to hell. Just a few years back, I went to a Home Depot and was the only white person in the entire store. Just wild. Kansas City isn't as bad, but most people will recommend you stay west of Troost. I assume most large cities have similar low income areas.

 

[jasonridesabike]

There is so much, so wrong with our society.