Harris County Jail

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Telephones

Interview with Julie, Inmate's Sister, Houston, Claire, Jim, Smyth, Ken, Charlene, Greg, GMan, Jamie, Leisha, Toby, Lisa, Consuela, John, Tiffany and Tom

JM: Did you have regular access to telephones?
Julie: yes i did
Inmate's Sister: no only in the county jail 1 time
Houston: Yes
Claire: Yes, there were three telephones in our pod to which we had access from about 9 a.m. until 9 or 10 p.m.
Jim: Yes telephones are in each cell house and you have to call collect which is very expensive
Smyth: NEVER
Ken: Yes
Charlene: YES
Greg: yes I did.
GMan: Rarely...others were always in line trying to use the phone.
Jamie: -------yes
Leisha: no,they need to get phone cards ,because it's very hard to make phone calls
Toby: yes but it's a pay phone real expensive to use.
Lisa: No
Consuela: Sometimes. When other inmates would mess it up for everyone in the day room the officers would punish all of us by taking our phone privilages away. We couldn't even call our attorneys.
John: The holding tanks had three phones each, but only one had a 'headset', the others just had a speaker. I had to cram my ear against the speaker to hear anything, and even then it was difficult. There was always a line to use the phone with a headset.
Tiffany: Yes, but they were difficult to use so I just waited.
Tom: Yes

JM: What types of charges applied for calling people? How much money would you guess the average inmate spends per week on phone calls?
Julie: I honestly did not get charged i called my hose several times getting things straight for my bail never recieved the charges
Inmate's Sister: collect call
Houston: Not sure
Claire: All calls made from the pods were collect calls. The receiving party was charged $3.25/call.
Jim: Approx 25 dollars for a 15 minute call
Smyth: Nonexistent at Pam Lynchner State Jail
Ken: Calls were collect.
Charlene: I don't know
Greg: 1800 collect,.
GMan: They were required to pay...it was a collect call.
Jamie: ---------------
Leisha: to much money for one phone call
Toby: i think it starts like at 3 something a minute then it goes to 5 dollars so it's real expensive.
Lisa: Local payphone
Consuela: $4.00 or $5.00 a call depending where you call. And the phone call only lasts 10 to 15 minutes.
John: Not sure - I only made a few calls, and no one asked me to reimburse them, so I guess it wasn't outrageous.
Tom: Not sure what the charges were.

JM: Did you need to buy phone cards to call out?
Julie: no i just called collect
Inmate's Sister: couldnt didnt get phone calls
Houston: No
Claire: Phone cards were not sold there.
Jim: no
Smyth: CANNOT
Ken: Yes, if they were available
Charlene: I couldn't
Greg: yes.
GMan: No
Jamie: yes
Leisha: harris county don't have any
Toby: no
Lisa: No
Consuela: NO
John: No
Tom: Not available. The person you were calling had to have an account set up with a 3rd party provider to accept calls.

JM: Did the jail screen your calls?
Julie: NOt that i know of
Inmate's Sister: yes always
Houston: Im sure
Claire: I was never aware of this, but I heard rumors.
Jim: yes they record all calls
Smyth: NEVER GOT A CALL
Ken: I don't know, don't think so.
Charlene: no
Greg: I assume, they would in case you say anything but that isn't a reason that makes it right to do so.
GMan: I have no idea...I think it's safe to assume that they did.
Jamie: yes
Leisha: yes
Toby: yes
Lisa: Yes
Consuela: Yes and if you was on the phone talking about calling other people the phone would play a message that says something like you can't make three way calls and then it will hang up on you.
John: I would think so
Tom: I assume they did.