The development of PHON-IO

Telephone solutions, technology benefits, consumer costs, and security demands in the penal system are gaining in importance.

Today, the latest developments in telecommunications technology can offer new opportunities for practical implementation in everyday prison life. Meeting higher security requirements and minimizing the workload of prison staff; while simultaneously increasing correctional facility income and reducing inmate costs is imperative. Prisoner communication with the outside world (such as via conventional card-operated telephones or Collect calls) is often proving problematic for the penal system in the following ways:

•   Purchasing telephone cards and distributing them internally      to prisoners is labor-intensive. If cards must be      personalized for security reasons, costs in terms of staff      time increase still further.
•   Inmates often use telephone cards as an alternative form      of currency.
•   Card Reader telephones are not specifically designed for      use within correction facilities; therefore, they lack the      proper security functions.

Even where prison block telephones form part of a prison’s own telephone system, problems occur in day-to-day prison life:

•   Conventional telephone systems are not designed for this      purpose. Processing calls is therefore labor-intensive, and      often complicated.
•   For security reasons, a member of the prison service staff      must be present when a call is being placed. This again      ties up resources.

When Collect Calls are a calling option to inmates, the prison loses security control based on the chance that a Collect Call can actually complete to unknown parties.

•   For family members or other persons paying for the Collect      Calls…such call charges are very expensive.
•   Due to the Collect Call billing options provided to inmates      the historical “Bad Debt” for non-payment for inmate      Collect Calls average 30%; regardless, if a Collect Call      charge is a few dollars or much more expensive.