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Securus Releases Data on Calling Rates - Dramatic Reduction in Rates and Fees
[July 21, 2017]

Securus Releases Data on Calling Rates - Dramatic Reduction in Rates and Fees


Securus Technologies, a leading provider of civil and criminal justice technology solutions for public safety, investigation, corrections and monitoring, released today statistics on dramatic reductions in communication costs, increased products, improved customer service metrics, and improved security related features for inmates/friends and family members, corrections officials, and all of society.

Communications Pricing Overview:





Pricing Metric

     

Observation

1) Cost per minute - all calls

     • Audio $.18 per minute

     • Video $.24 per minute

• Audio call rates have decreased by 27% in last 5 years

• Remote video calls did not exist 5 years ago.

 

2) Total Jail Inmate Payments

     • Booking to Release - $24.37

For all jail inmates, price for all communications from booking to release is $24.37, and that amount also facilitates the inmate's release.
 

3) Total Prison Inmate Payments per Month

     • $40.63 per month

Includes audio calls, video calls, tablets, music downloads, email, education, use of law library, bibles/religious reading, books, and commissary ordering.
 

4) Jail Price - $24.37

    Prison Price - $40.63

Compare/contrast to other line expenses per month in society:

     • Cell phone - $73

     • Apartment Rent - $1,200

     • Commissary - $139

     • Cost of Bail - $2,000 to $5,000

     • Vehicle Costs - $725

     • Cigarettes/Smoking - $139

     • Monthly Incarceration Cost - $4,167

 

"Securus is providing facts today to effectively defend our efforts to reduce/control inmate communications costs and provide the best product set available," said Richard A. ("Rick") Smith, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Securus Technologies.

"There are some inmate advocate groups, their attorney, and even a current Federal Communications Commissioner who uses outrageous, non-fact based statistics to disparage Securus and our entire industry with high rate examples that are not taken out of context - they are plain wrong and I believe used to incite their constituencies. Comments like '$25 per minute' charge examples just do not exist for Securus," said Smith.

Smith used these facts to make his point:

  • "Our average rate for June, 2017 is $.184 per minute, or $2.21 per call;
  • The average jail inmate pays Securus $24.37 from booking to release for all our services over an 18-day period - and that includes calls that eventually lead to their release;
  • We have seen a reduction in the rates per minute that we charge by 27% in the last 5 years and interstate rates by 72% in the last 7 years. It's rare to see that magnitude of a decrease for critical services;
  • For prison inmates, we charge $40.63 per month for everything including audio calls, video calls, tablets, music downloads, education services, Prison Rate Elimination Act compliance, book downloads, law library access, videos, and more and more and more;
  • Compare the above charges to what others charge outside of corrections like $73 per month for a cellphone, or cigarettes at $139 per month, or commissary ordering of $140 per month, and our cost is very reasonable."

"Making an audio or video call at a secure, inmate hardened phone with anti-suicide features, that is recorded, operates 7x24x365 with 99.999% reliability, dips +20 databases for security reasons, is equipped with voice biometric features to prevent theft, has word-spotting, and +1,000 other safety/security features is not the same as using your mother or father's corner pay phone - far from it," concluded Smith.

ABOUT SECURUS TECHNOLOGIES

Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and serving more than 3,450 public safety, law enforcement and corrections agencies and over 1,200,000 inmates across North America, Securus Technologies is committed to serve and connect by providing emergency response, incident management, public information, investigation, biometric analysis, communication, information management, inmate self-service, and monitoring products and services in order to make our world a safer place to live. Securus Technologies focuses on connecting what matters®. To learn more about our full suite of civil and criminal justice technology solutions, please visit SecurusTechnologies.com.


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