Michael S. Hamden - Attorney, Counselor at Law & Corrections Consultant

Florida

Public Service Commission Investigates

Unlawful Disconnection of Prisoner Telephone Calls

Docket No. 060614-TC

 

Late-breaking Developments Click Here

 

In Florida Public Service Commission Docket No. 060614-TC (2006)(http://www.psc.state.fl.us/), the Florida Public Services Commission’s Public Staff requested a “Compliance investigation of TCG Public Communications, Inc. for apparent violation of Section 364.183, F.S., Access to Company Records and determination of the amount and the appropriate method for refunding overcharges for collect calls made from inmate pay telephones.”  Docket No. 060614-TC.


TCG Public Communications (an AT&T subsidiary at the time) entered into a contract to provide inmate phone service at the Dade County Jail in Florida on 1 August 2000.  TCG contracted with T-Netix Telecommunications Services, Inc. (today T-Netix and Evercom operate as Securus), to: (1) install the inmate phone service equipment; (2) provide the service; and (3) funnel billing through Correctional Billing Service.  AT&T sold their inmate phone business “TCG” to Global Tel Link in February 2005.

 

It seems that two prisoner telephone service providers, T-Netix/Evercom and Global, have deliberately terminated telephone calls prematurely at the Miami-Dade County Jail through the use of super-sensitive 3-way call detection equipment.  (The 3-way call detection equipment can be adjusted by telephone company personnel to permit lower or higher line-noise tolerances.)  Re-initiation of the call involves a “set-up” charge of $1.75, plus an additional $.50 for local calls and $.30 per minute for long distance calls.  The Commission proceeding is ongoing to determine the “amount and appropriate method for refunding overcharges for collect calls made from inmate pay telephones.”  http://www.floridapsc.com/dockets/cms/docketDetails.aspx?docket=060614 

 

It is perplexing that this investigation now spans more than two years with no action by the Florida Public Service Commission, especially in the absence of evidence that the practice has been halted.  It could well be the case that calls are prematurely dropped and re-initiated, causing families to pay a second surcharge for the same call.  Prisoner telephone service providers should not be allowed to continue to reap astronomical profits through unscrupulous business practices known to the body charged with regulating such conduct.

 

(8 September 2008) –  The Public Service Staff of the Florida Public Service Commission filed a Proposed Agency Action requesting that TCG (Global Tel Link) be required to refund almost $6.3 million in overcharges, with interest.  Also being sought are fines in the amount of more than $1.2 million. For a copy of the Staff's Proposed Agency Action 8 September 2008, click here. 

 

Late-Breaking Development

 

On 18 August 2009, the Florida Public Service Commission accepted an offer of settlement in which the prison phone provider, TCG Public Communications, agreed to pay $1.25 million into the State's General Revenue Fund and submit to monitoring for an 18-month period. Regrettably, the consumers who were bilked out of $6.3 million dollars by these sharp practices were not compensated. “Compliance investigation of TCG Public Communications, Inc.”   (Docket No. 060614-TC).

 

 

 

FLORIDA LITIGATION ON UNLAWFUL DISCONNECTION OF CALLS (3-WAY)

 

Salb vs. Evercom: - The matter of deliberately and prematurely terminating telephone calls in Florida has been the subject of a recent litigation.  In February 2006, Evercom, T-Netix and Correctional Billing Services were named in a putative class action law suit for alleged incorrect termination of inmate telephone calls.  Kirsten Salb v. Evercom Systems, Inc., 1:06-CV-20290 (S.D.FL 2006).  The following information was provided to the United States Securities & Exchange Commission for the quarter ending 31 March 2007.

 

From time to time, inmate telecommunications providers, including Securus, are parties to judicial and regulatory complaints and proceedings initiated by inmates, consumer protection advocates or individual called parties alleging, among other things, that excessive rates are being charged with respect to inmate collect calls, that commissions paid by inmate telephone service providers to the correctional facilities are too high, that a call was wrongfully disconnected, that security notices played during the call disrupt the call, that the billed party did not accept the collect calls for which they were billed or that rate disclosure was not provided or was inadequate. We are also on occasion the subject of regulatory complaints regarding our compliance with various matters including tariffing, access charges and payphone compensation requirements and rate disclosure issues.

In February 2006, Evercom and T-Netix were named in a putative class action in Florida federal court captioned Kirsten Salb v. Evercom Systems, Inc., et al.  Evercom and its wholly owned billing agent are alleged to have violated the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and other common law duties because of the alleged incorrect termination of inmate telephone calls.  Plaintiff seeks restitution and compensatory damages on behalf of a class of persons who received inmate calls from Florida correctional sites that are served by Evercom or T-Netix platforms.  T-Netix has moved for complete dismissal of all claims, and we await the Court’s decision.  In addition, Evercom and T-Netix have moved for summary judgment on all claims, and we await the Court’s decision.  No class has been certified yet.  At this time, we cannot evaluate the likelihood of any outcome and are unable to reasonably estimate a range of potential loss.

 

SECURUS TECHNOLOGIES, INC., 10-Q Report for the Quarter Ended 31 March 2007, pp. 35-36.
For the Quarter ending 30 June 2007, Securus reported the following information:
In February 2006, Evercom and T-Netix were named in a putative class action in Florida federal court captioned Kirsten Salb v. Evercom Systems, Inc., et al. Evercom and its wholly owned billing agent were alleged to have violated the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and other common law duties because of the alleged incorrect termination of inmate telephone calls.  The plaintiff sought statutory damages, as well as compensatory damages and attorneys’ fees and costs.  No class was ever certified.  This matter was settled with a nominal payment to the Plaintiff, plus attorney’s fees and dismissed with prejudice.  Legal fees for the second quarter of 2007 were higher as a result.

 

SECURUS TECHNOLOGIES, INC., 10-Q Report for the Quarter Ended 31 March 2007, p. 36 (emphasis added).  Both of these filings on accessible through the web at www.sec.gov.

 

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