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| Mother Sues Salt Lake Company For Using Inmate Telemarketers |
| By Salt Lake Tribune |
| Published: 11/26/2001 |
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Texas mother April Jordan claims her family life and safety was forever altered by an 8-minute telephone call from a Utah prison inmate who was supposed to be selling family films. Jordan now wants the company that employed the felon, Salt Lake City-based SandStar Family Entertainment, to pay damages for the alleged violation of her family's privacy. She sued SandStar in U.S. District Court in Dallas. Attorney Jim Harrington, who filed the suit, asked the court to certify the case as a class action lawsuit, contending potentially thousands of families were contacted by inmates. Jordan participated in a SandStar telephone survey early 2000, according to the suit. In February 2000, a Utah State Prison inmate working for Utah Correctional Industries called Jordan's home in Mesquite, Texas, while selling family-oriented films under an agreement with SandStar. Jordan's daughter answered the inmate's call. The inmate allegedly discovered the girl's name, birth date, physical description, address and other personal information, according to the lawsuit. He then allegedly gave the information to another inmate, who sent a letter to the girl. Officials from SandStar, which sells Sesame Street videos and family-oriented films, did not return several telephone calls. The Utah Department of Corrections discontinued all inmate telemarketing -- which produced $700,000 in revenue from SandStar, the Utah Travel Council and the state Division of Corporations -- in mid-2000 because officials could not ensure inmates would not misuse personal information obtained by telephone. Two inmates involved in the letters lost a parole date, said Jack Ford, spokesman for the Department of Corrections. He said the inmate who sent the letter has said he believed the girl was a woman over 21, and has apologized for the mailing. |
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