Prison Phone Justice

Clifford Powers IDOC No. ~95859
Stateville CorrectionalCenter
P .0. Box 112
Joliet, IL 60434

Chairman Julius Genachowski
Federal Communications Commission
Public Comments
445 12th Street, SW Washington DC
20554

This is a public comment for
The Wright Petition CC Docket 96-128

Received & Inspected

JUL 02 2012
FCC Mail Room

Dear Chairman Genachowski,

My name is Clifford Powers; I'm currently incarcated in
Stateville Correctional Center, in Joliet, Illinois. I have been
here for three years after spending spending nearly the same amount
of time in the county jail in Lake County. The majority of my
family live between two and eight hours away from here so visits
are few and far between, especially as the economy only worsens.
In order to have contact with my.family I am forced to use
the prison mail system, which has proven wholly unreliable, or use
the prison phone system, which has proven wholly unaffordable.
While in the county jail I was able to call friends and family
when I needed to, which was not often due to the close proximity.
Now that I am in prison the cost to call my nearest family members
has doubled, effectively cutting off my contact with all but my
father. At the current rate it costs my father approximately $7
to accept a call from me for half an hour.
He sacrifices so that I may have some contact with someone on
the outside. My mother, siblings, and other relatives cannot aford
to give me this luxury. If my father were to use three-way calling
to call one of them so that I could

t~!k

to them I would be put

in administrative segredation and lose a number of priveledges,
including use of a phone. I used to call my grandmother in
Tennessee once a month to check on her but am no longer able to
do even that because she cannot afford the $20+ phone call on her
public assistance income.
The monopoly the phone companies hold over us prisoners is
atrocious. Contact with family and friends does great things for
the psychologicalwelfare of prisoners, but more it helps relieve
some of the stress weighin• down on our loved ones who must live

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with the burden of worrying about their brother. sister, husband.

__________

C. Powers
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wife, etc.
Chairman Genachowski, I ask that you take notice of our call
for help. Something must be done, and you are in a position to
right this wrong. Thank you for your time.

C. Powers

Chairman Julius Genachowski
Federal Communications Commission
Public Comments
445 12th Street, SW Washington DC
20554

Chadwick Wallace !DOC No. S-05266
Stateville Correctional Center
Box 112
Joliet, IL 60434

This is a public comment for
The Wright Petition CC Docket 96-128

Received & Inspected

JUL 0 2 Z01Z
FCC Mall Room

Dear Chairman Genachowski,
Hello, my name is Chadwick Wallace, and I am incarcerated
in Stateville Correctional Center in the state of Illinois.
I am writing you in regards to the high cost of phone calls
from prison. My family lives in Alton, IL which is 250+ miles away
from my facility, which is located in Joliet, IL. It costs over
$10.00 for me to make one phone call home, and due to financial
hardship, I do not get to call home much these days. People I've
talked to in here whose families live closer to this facility tell
me they pay less per call, $6 or $7.00, which is still outrageous
in my opinion.
I feel that the phone company Stateville contracts with, a
Mattoon, IL based company called "C_onsolidated" capitilizes on the
fact that 80% of IDOC Prisoners are from Chicago and it's surrounding
areas, and are incarcerated in facilities that are primarily located
in the mid to southern regions of the state, which means the vast
majority of calls made on their network will be long distance, which
they charge an exhorbitant amount for.
To my understanding, Consolidated holds most of the contracts
for prison

phone systems in this state, and the collect calls funnel

and endless source of money into their pockets, as phones are the
only source of real communication for those of us who are forced to
live in a prison so far from home.
Being over 200 miles away from home, my friends and family can't
make the trip very often, the same holds true for those from the
northern region of the state being housed in the southern prisons,
especially in the current economy. Even the phone calls have become
too expensive.
The entire month of June, I have spoke to my mother a full 60
seconds. That is the length of the one time courtesy call that
Conslidated gives when your bill is overdue.

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Out of state phone calls are a perplexing issue of their own.
for some reason it's cheaper for me to call my Grandparents who live
in Colorado Springs, Colorado, I'm unsure just how much cheaper but
the difference is signifigant compared to calling home in my own
state. However, with them being reitred, and on a fixed income they
can nary afford the calls, despite the price difference.
The whole phone operation in general amounts to treachery. It's
a vampiric entity that feeds on the pocket books of the loved ones
who support their imprisoned family and friends. We're forced to feed
this beast at the expense of our loved ones livlihood, our only other
option is a prison mail system thaqt has time and time again proven
to be wholly unreliable, and slower than molasses dripping from a
flap-jack (at no fault of the U.S. Postal Service).
Chairman Genachowski, I appreciate your time in reading my letter,
and pray that you can be of some help in this matter, if not for us
prisoners, then for·the

famil~es

that love and believe in us. Thank

you •

Respectfully,
Chadwick Wallace
!DOC No. S-05266
Stateville Correctional Center
Box 112
Joliet,

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