NCJ Number
194582
Journal
Offender Programs Report: Social and Behavioral Rehabilitation in Prisons, Jails and the Community Volume: 5 Issue: 5 Dated: January/February 2002 Pages: 65-66,74
Date Published
2002
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the importance of the inmate telephone services as a rehabilitation tool and criticizes the new policy of the Federal Bureau of Prisons that limits prison telephone calls to 300 minutes each month.
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to explain the necessity and importance of the Inmate Telephone Service (ITS) in the rehabilitation of prisoners. The authors discuss how prisoners maintain strong family ties through the unlimited use of telephone calls to their homes. They also explain how prisoners often use the telephone to speak with legal volunteers concerning their court cases and legal rights. At contention in this article is the Federal Bureau of Prisons announcement on April 2, 2001 of a new policy that limits inmates' use of the telephone to a total of 300 minutes per month. The reason stated for the new policy is that inmate telephone calls are difficult to monitor. An August 1999 report by the Inspector General illustrates how as many as 150 crimes were committed by inmates using the ITS. The authors explain that limiting the telephone rights of prisoners to 300 monthly minutes would be detrimental to prisoner rehabilitation and, furthermore, is unnecessary given the improving technology that could be utilized in monitoring inmate telephone calls.