Province gets 'kickback' from inmates' collect calls, lawyer says

No surprise, the province needs every penny it can get.

Outsource the police in Ontario, save the economy and future generations.

Rather sleazy though. Those calls are one of the few things inmates have to look forward to, and having the receiver of the call contribute to the cost of the prison system twice seems like 'double dipping'.

California has done this for years.

k.

I seem to be short of shits to give here. Being taken away from your life on the outside IS the punishment being imposed when sentenced to jail time. That's the deterrent.

Hate to say, but yeah. This.

The other thing in California is that inmates who are ordered to pay restitution to their victims will have up to 95% of their earnings in the prison shops and 95% of the money given to their commissary accounts confiscated and sent to their victims.

That means a $1 pack of Twinkies actually costs the inmate's family $20.

And then the packages the inmates receive are often held for a couple weeks before they're searched and delivered so any food stuffs usually spoil...that part, I believe, is more or less deliberate.

Simple solution here is to not break the law.

I seem to be short of shits to give here. Being taken away from your life on the outside IS the punishment being imposed when sentenced to jail time. That's the deterrent.

Hate to say, but yeah. This.


I don't disagree with your sentiment, but the thing that keeps prisoners in line is hope. And phone privileges represent that hope. If it weren't for the ability to hope, they wouldn't sit there day after day waiting to get out. I think it would be chaos if not for the slim hope that hearing a loved one's voice brings.

And it's not the prisoners that incur the expense of collect calls, so it's not a burden on them.