They speak roughly once a week in a 15-minute phone call, and speak for another 25 minutes on a video chat. Jones says she’d travel to Texas to visit her son in person, but Hays County Jail, where he is locked up, banned visitations in November 2013.
Since then, all family communication with inmates at Hays County goes through Securus, which charges Jones about $10 for a phone call and about $8 for a video visit.
The cost to keep in touch, Jones says, "makes me ill."
$10 a phone call isn't punishing criminals, it's punishing their loved ones just for trying to maintain contact.
$10 a phone call isn't punishing criminals, it's punishing their loved ones just for trying to maintain contact.
Wholeheartedly agreed. And those are likely folks who have already provided some level of sacrifice in the form of attorneys fees, etc.