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| Sheriff sets sharp limits on prisoner phone use |
| By The Belleville News-Democrat |
| Published: 01/12/2004 |
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Sheriff Robert Hertz has limited the use of phones in the Madison County (Ill.) Jail in an effort to eliminate phone abuse by prisoners. Prisoners have been placing random, collect calls to residents, looking for anyone willing to complete a three-way call to a friend or relative of the person in jail. Hertz last Tuesday cut the hours for use of jail phones down to noon to 5 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Before, prisoners could make calls from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. The sheriff had asked Evercom Inc., a Texas company that handles phone service for the jail, to find a way to block three-way calls. So far, the company hasn't been able to find a way to block those calls because of the nature of the jail's phone wiring. The company has, however, found a way to pinpoint which phone was used to make a three-way call. Hertz said if he gets a complaint about a three-way call from a particular phone, he'll suspend phone privileges for the prisoners in the cellblock where that phone is located. The jail's average population is about 280. Most prisoners are in cellblocks which hold 15 people, and each cellblock has a phone. Only collect calls can be made from the phones. Some people accept the random calls because they think a friend or relative has been arrested. Some residents have also been talked into completing a three-way call to a prisoner's friend or family member. The resident who was called first gets the bill. The sheriff said he has received numerous complaints from people saying they got unsolicited, collect calls from the jail. State regulations require that jail prisoners have access to a telephone 5 minutes per week. Hertz said monitoring each prisoner's call for just 5 minutes per week would require 23 hours of a deputy's time per week and is not a practical solution. Most jails and prisons use Evercom or similar services because of the convenience and economic reasons. Evercom provides the service at no cost to Madison County. In fact, the county gets 40 percent of the fee for each call from the jail. A 10-minute, local call costs about $5. |
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