Latest news with #Securus
Axios
27-05-2025
- Business
- Axios
Enhancing safety, operations and rehabilitation in corrections facilities
Empowering corrections facilities with technology solutions is essential to enhancing safety, optimizing operations, and strengthening rehabilitation for better reentry outcomes. The combination of staff shortages and a 1.8 million prison population strains safety and security in U.S. correctional facilities Why it's important: Corrections facilities urgently need advanced technology to enhance safety, security, and rehabilitation, addressing the complex needs of law enforcement and individuals within the system. The solution: With 30 years of experience in corrections, Securus Technologies, alongside its affiliates Securus Monitoring and JPay under Aventiv Technologies, delivers tailored solutions to bridge the digital divide, creating safer and more connected correctional environments. Strengthening facility operations and safety: By offering law enforcement more than 80 high-tech tools that effectively address the unique challenges of facility management and security, Securus contributes to safer, more secure environments for officers and incarcerated individuals: Breach prevention and contraband mitigation: Tools that monitor digital communications can help identify potential threats and track suspicious activity, so officers can mitigate contraband risks and maintain order more effectively. Corrections officer tools: Digital solutions available on the Officer T80 tablet allows corrections staff to work optimally by modernizing administration, automating workflows, and centralizing communication and forms. Secure connections: The EVOTAB tablet, available to incarcerated individuals, has tamper alarms, GPS, fingerprint authentication, secure LTE connectivity and a private Google Play Store, to optimize operations and environmental safety. Human trafficking prevention: Securus Technologies' monitoring and data insights directly aided law enforcement in recovering 15 children and generating 80 leads in a February 2025 anti-trafficking operation. Facilitating constructive incarceration and successful reentry: Securus streamlines access to critical resources, improving rehabilitation, enhancing safety, and reducing financial and operational costs. Access to educational and vocational programs: Using secure tablets, incarcerated individuals can access educational and vocational training and industry certifications through partnerships with Edovo, JSTOR, Essential Education and Tooling U. Employment connections: Securus tablets offer apps like R3UP, which enable incarcerated individuals to plan careers pre-release and Job1Stop, which connects released individuals with second-chance employers. Partnering for impact: The company's approach is rooted in collaboration, a deep understanding of the communities it serves and a human-centric focus that prioritizes the needs and perspectives of all stakeholders. Aventiv advisory board: The company's advisory board, comprised of respected corrections authorities Rick Raemisch, former executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections, and Steve Casey, former executive director of the Florida Sheriffs Association, distinguish Securus's products and services with credible insight and innovative solutions that directly enhance their ability to support law enforcement's public safety commitment. Prioritizing lived experience: Internal and external listening sessions, particularly with justice-impacted resource groups, ensure that those with lived experience have a voice in the development of solutions. This emphasis brings a unique and valuable perspective to the table, leading to more effective outcomes. The impact: Niagara County Corrections Facility's chief jail administrator Anthony Suess calls Aventiv's Securus tablets a "godsend," citing a year-over-year 22 percent reduction in infractions and a 67 percent increase in family connections, demonstrating their impact on facility safety and individual well-being. The takeaway: According to Kevin Elder, president, Securus Technologies, "Securus's commitment to security, operational efficiency and reentry success within corrections is a direct investment in safer facilities, successful homecomings and ultimately, more viable, financially stronger and secure communities."
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Yahoo
New rates for inmates shift focus to laptops for Oklahoma families
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Families in Oklahoma are seeing relief in how much it costs to connect with loved ones incarcerated with set per-minute rate caps for in-state audio calls, video communications, including video visitation. Oklahoma families with loved ones confined switched to state-issued tablets, made available to prisoners statewide in 2021 after the banning of physical mail from entering state prisons in September 2024 curtailing the flow of contraband drugs into facilities. The Federal Communications Commission in July of 2024 changed the rules to end exorbitant phone and video call rates that have burdened incarcerated people and their families for a very long time. According to FCC officials, under the new rules, the cost of a 15-minute phone call will drop to $0.90 from as much as $11.35 in large jails and, in small jails, to $1.35 from $12.10 beginning January 1, 2025. Authorities capture 2,840 lbs. of marijuana in shipping scheme, 6 arrested Communications services, such as video conferencing and video visitation breakdown is as follows: *Compliance with the new rate caps will be phased in based on the size of the correctional institution and other factors. Audio Rate Caps (Permanent) (Per minute) Video Rate Caps (Interim) (Per minute) Tier (ADP) Current Caps New Caps Current Caps New Caps Prisons (any ADP) $0.14* $0.06 N/A $0.16 Large Jails (1,000+) $0.16* $0.06 N/A $0.11 Med. Jails (350-999) $0.21 $0.07 N/A $0.12 Small Jails (100-349) $0.21 $0.09 N/A $0.14 Very Small Jails (0-99) $0.21 $0.12 N/A $0.25 * Current cap figures that include a $0.02 additive for facility costs, which equates to the allowance made for facility-incurred IPCS costs reflected in contractually-prescribed site commissions, the closest available comparison. ADP means average daily population. Oklahoma Watch first reported, the new FCC regulation capping prison and jail phone call rates. Additionally highlighting, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections (ODOC) and Securus Technologies agreed to lower the state's phone call rate from 14 cents per minute to 6 cents per minute. Securus under the amended contract who took over Oklahoma's prison phone system in 2020 charging 20 cents per minute will no longer receive $3.5 million per year contract agreement in Oklahoma. Securus will now beginning paying ODOC $580,000 over 12 months for tablet e-messaging and media rights, according to the latest contract agreement, reported by Oklahoma Watch. Oklahomans are now shifting their focus as the FCC who has no regulating authority over tablet e-messaging as a pending lawsuit filed by Securus and Pay Tel alleging that the FCC exceeded its authority under the Martha Wright-Reed Fair and Just Communications Act is ongoing. Implementation of rate cuts continue as federal courts decline any pause due to pending cases. To read the Oklahoma Watch full article click here. *The Department of Corrections and Prison Policy Initiative have not responded at the time of this publishing. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
