Why is it so hard to support a loved one in jail?

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Saturday June 13, 2015 · 7:24 PM PDT

2015/06/13 · 19:24

I have a loved one who is now being held in our local adult jail. Had just turned 18, did something stupid, got caught. The whole system, though, seems to be rigged to restrict access in every way possible. Here's what I've learned in 3 short weeks:

1. You cannot have a face-to-face visit. You can't even have a visit through plexiglass. you go down to the jail, on your appointed time, and videoconference your loved one. You sit in a little cubicle, with a tiny screen on the wall. They come on the screen, and they're in a big room with lots of other guys milling about. Absolutely no privacy. You only get this appointment after spending anywhere from 10-90 minutes on hold with Securus, the company that handles these things.

2. It's expensive to support someone. They are allowed to make phone calls out, but first you have to fund their account. Fees to fund the phone accounts are either $5.95 or $7.95, depending on which type of account you fund (and figuring all that out is confusing in the extreme). That's just the fee. The actual cost of the phone time is on top of that. So, to add $30 to someone's phone account, your total cost is 37.95.
To send someone a care package, of items you selected from their commisary, a fee of $4.95. That's on top of the actual cost of the items.
To put money in an inmate's commissary account, $5.95 just for the processing fee. And from what I hear, the food is so awful, the only way some guys get by is their commissary spending.

As a newbie to this whole system, I'm just shocked at the enforced distances that are put between these individuals and their loved ones. At some point, nearly all of these inmates will be released back into society. Wouldn't we want to facilitate their maintaining these important relationships? And what's with all the fees? Talk about nickel and diming you to death (and I understand there's some controversy about Securus' role in the jail system anyway. Now I see why).

As someone who's naively not had to interact with this system, I just can't believe we can't do better. Shame on us.

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Have you ever supported a loved one in the justice system?

Yes, unfortunately

Thankfully no

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Have you ever supported a loved one in the justice system?

Yes, unfortunately

114 votes

Thankfully no

102 votes

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Why is it so hard to support a loved one in jail?

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