Securus’ Response to “Profit Over People”
Scene in SA recently completed an investigative article involving months of thorough research about the notorious prison communication company Securus. Prior to publication, we reached out to both the Texas Department of Criminal Justice as well as Securus regarding their roles in the pitiful state of affairs—technologically, financially, and ethically—of communication between inmates and their communities.
It’s clear reading through Securus’ response that the substance of our article was either completely missed or deliberately ignored. The final sentence—referring to the fact that legal mail is still delivered to prison units, which we explicitly stated in our piece—highlights a serious misreading on their part, coming from their Senior Director of Communications. Rather than engaging with their glaring financial discrepancies and negative impacts to the quality of life of inmates and their families, Securus chose to provide boilerplate bullet points further underscoring their complete lack of willingness to reflect upon or offer any compelling explanation for their actions.
What follows is Securus’ unedited response to our piece. The TDCJ did not respond.
“Thank you for reaching out. On review of your text, which reads as an editorial rather than an article, we’d like to take time to educate you on our products and services in hopes you can correct the factual inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the piece before you publish. We are proud of our partnership with TDCJ and look forward to continuing to provide meaningful connections to incarcerated individuals and their loved ones across Texas.
Since 2008, Securus Technologies has proudly partnered with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) to deliver high quality, affordable, accessible, and secure technology that improves public safety and enables the digital infrastructure that connects incarcerated individuals with their loved ones across the state.
Technology is a force multiplier, so we work to connect each incarcerated individual with a tablet, which increases the privacy and personal nature of connections and eliminates the long lines for static wall phones that often led to conflict.
Our tablets offer unique features that allow incarcerated individuals a variety of options to stay connected with family and friends, so they can maintain the personal connections that contribute to successful reentry:
The call rate for incarcerated individuals using our services through TDCJ is $0.06 per minute; during COVID, we offered more than one million free calls to incarcerated individuals at TDCJ
Tablets give incarcerated individuals access to educational and reentry content, such as eBooks, job search tools, and a law library, along with religious, mental health, and addiction recovery materials at no cost to them, helping build skills that lead to successful reentry. Access to these materials can reduce stress and anxiety.
Tablets offer access to e-messages and phone calls, giving incarcerated individuals more ways to communicate and directly connect with their loved ones every day.
Tablets also give access to podcasts and music, along with premium entertainment and media content that belongs to the incarcerated individual once it’s purchased on the tablet.
Each device operates over a closed, secure infrastructure, where users can only access approved applications that come preloaded on devices. Usage guidelines, including who has access to tablets and when, are set by each facility.
As part of a partnership extension in 2023, Securus worked with TDCJ to implement a digitized mail service:
When general mail comes into the digital processing center, it is processed and digitized
Once digitized, general mail is sent to the agency portal, where the facility can review and approve or deny content, before the digital mail is delivered to an incarcerated individual’s tablet or terminal, at no charge to the incarcerated individual
When an incarcerated individual receives digital mail on their Securus Unity Tablet, it includes a visual representation of the tangible letter – including the envelope, pictures, and an image of the letter to include the handwriting
While there were initial delays when the digital mail service was implemented, Securus partnered with TDCJ to provide additional equipment to process backlogs quickly. TDCJ can speak to any current delays, but the delays suggested in your writing are outdated and inaccurate.
Contrary to the misinformed suggestion in your article, an incarcerated individual’s legal mail is still delivered directly to each facility as outlined by TDCJ’s policy.”
JENNIFER JACKSON-LUTH
Senior Director, Communications
