County correctional agencies in Wyoming are receiving commissions between 25 and 50 percent of charges to inmates for prison communications.
As part of a survey being conducted my MuckRock, seven of the state’s 23 county sheriff departments have provided their contracts, offering additional looks into agreements by Turnkey, Telmate, and Securus, one of the country’s largest providers of inmate prison communication services.
According to the records, the commissions vary from a quarter of payments, like in Lincoln County’s agreement with Turnkey and Campbell County’s video visitation contract with Telmate …
to half of all charges, as in Teton County’s contract with Securus.
Converse, Crook, Platte and Sweetwater Counties have all also provided their contracts with Securus.
Other requests to Wyoming agencies have been stalled due to unresponsive email addresses, request fees, and trade secret exemptions. Albany County estimated it would require over $250 in fees to provide the material requested. Laramie County denied access to its contract with ICSolutions, pointing to a clause within the agreement prohibiting such disclosure.
Securus is currently pursuing a merger with ICSolutions but that process was paused in September 2018 by the Wireless Competition Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission. At the time, the WCB said that the company had not sufficiently provided information to the agency, and the an FCC representative confirmed, “[W]e paused the informal shot clock in September. That still stands.”
You can help our project by letting us know about your prison phone experience.
Image via Teton County Sheriff’s Office
