Privatization in prisons is a well-established problem. There are
numerous examples of the dubious practices, money schemes, business practices involved with the U.S. prison system. A couple of months ago, the
Indiana ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of Valerie Buford:
Today the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana brought suit on behalf of Valerie Buford, the sister of Pendleton Correctional Facility inmate Leon Benson, whose “Free Leon Benson” social media campaign involves several Internet sites seeking to gain his release from prison. Buford had posted a video to her Facebook page of her brother thanking and rallying his supporters. Benson had sent his sister the video via J-Pay, a company that contracts with the State to provide services to prisoners and their families such as email, video messaging and money transfers. When the prison learned the video had been posted on Facebook, Benson was disciplined and the DOC has blocked Buford’s ability to use J-Pay.
This lawsuit is trying to rid the Buford siblings of the communication block being enforced by Indiana DOC. This is all because of this clause in the email section of the
Jpay terms of service:
5. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS. You acknowledge that JPay owns all right, title and interest in and to the Service, including without limitation all intellectual property rights (the “JPay Rights“), and such JPay Rights are protected by U.S. and international intellectual property laws. Accordingly, you agree that you will not copy, reproduce, alter, modify, or create derivative works from the Service. The JPay Rights include rights to (i) the Service developed and provided by JPay; and (ii) all software associated with the Service.
You also acknowledge that JPay owns all of the content, including any text, data, information, images, or other material, that you transmit through the Service.
Any text. Any data. Any information. Any images. Any other material.
So, that's crazy. But what is even crazier is how this is being used to execute punishment.
Last September, she posted a video of her brother on a Facebook event page to invite people to attend his upcoming court hearing. The page’s title: “PACK THE COURT! MAKE IT TREMBLE! Justice for Leon Benson.” The video is a 30-second clip that her brother took and sent to Buford through JPay, a company that allows prisoners to receive money and send emails and videos to relatives.
Shortly after the video was posted, Buford learned that the Indiana Department of Correction blocked her JPay account and that she could no longer contact her brother.
Pretty bad. But it's quite a bit worse than bad.
But, according to the complaint, an internal affairs supervisor at Pendleton told Buford that she was barred from using JPay as a punishment for posting the video on social media. Benson also was punished. He was placed in segregation, his JPay account was blocked for three months, and he lost some good-time credit, Falk said.
[bold my emphasis]
This is Valerie Buford's Facebook page. Leon Benson is 16 years into a 60 year sentence for murder. He has maintained his innocence the entire time. I do not know the merits of his case one way or another; but this is not about that. Jpay and companies that are profiteering off of taxpayers and the prison system are parasitic to put it nicely. The fact that they then try to take away any and all humanity from those even remotely involved with the prison system is something beyond the pale.
2:30 PM PT: A commenter has pointed out the the Terms of Service I quoted in the piece have been updated.