The $4.95 fee goes to JPay, which funnels some of the money back to the department at a rate of $2.75 per money transfer. THE LIFECYCLE OF AN INMATE MONEY TRANSFERĪ common complaint from people using JPay is that high fees dramatically reduce the amount of the money actually getting to their loved ones, who then pay steep prices for basic comforts such as shampoo and shaving cream and fees for virtual services such as sending emails.įor instance, if someone wanted to send an inmate $20 online, they would need to pay $24.95. In-person visits, experts say, are crucial to maintaining support networks for inmates who will need to rely on them when re-entering society in order not to re-offend and end up back in prison. They’re concerned the department is looking for new revenue streams while exploiting prisoners and their families who have no other options for contacting each other. The department has strongly contested that it is planning to ultimately swap out in-person visits for video calling, saying the calls are merely a supplement to visitation.Ĭritics of the department, however, are not convinced. At those jails, about 74 percent of them eliminate or reduce in-person visits, he added. “The fact that they’re implementing a policy that allows facilities to reduce in-person visits suggests to me that what they’re actually doing is trying to funnel people into these for-profit video calling systems,” said Lucius Couloute, a policy analyst at the nonprofit Prison Policy Initiative.Ĭouloute said video calling services are in use at more than 700 facilities across the country, most of them local jails. If the department does in fact reduce in-person visitation, loved ones will be more reliant on either traditional postage stamps or the new electronic services. Video calling, however, is purchased directly by inmates’ loved ones and will not lead to more commissions for the department.
With the statewide expansion of multimedia kiosks, the department - which gets $2.75 for each money transfer into an inmate’s private bank account - stands to bring in more cash as inmates will have greater access to email services.
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