Across the United States, hundreds of jails have eliminated in-person family visits over the last decade. Why has this happened? The answer highlights a profound flaw in how decisions too often get made in our legal system: for-profit jail telecom companies realized that they could earn more profit from phone and video calls if jails eliminated free in-person visits for families. So the companies offered sheriffs and county jails across the country a deal: if you eliminate family visits, we’ll give you a cut of the increased profits from the larger number of calls. This led to a wave across the country, as local jails sought to supplement their budgets with hundreds of millions of dollars in cash from some of the poorest families in our society.

    • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Can’t we just be pissed off that the federal government is allowing this to happen? I know OP specifically called out campaign promises, but they absolutely could and should fix this, congress and the executive branch don’t care.

      It is absolutely on them that this is still a thing even if OP is misdirecting.

      • neatchee@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Totally still pissed. Just not down with people exploiting that emotion to spread misinformation

      • Landmammals@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        The article mentions a lot of county jails, but are federal prisons doing this? I’m pretty sure the executive branch isn’t in charge of county jails.

        I think the supreme Court could probably decide that this is cruel and unusual punishment. Or that Congress could pass a federal law setting regulations for local jails.

        I’m not a jail expert, but this sounds like something Biden has no control over.