Marion Rodriguez

Dialing for Justice

It is wrong for Verizon/MCI to charge, and for NYSDOCS to profit from, inflated rates for telephone service between inmates and their families.

The New York Campaign for Telephone Justice is a social justice initiative of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), Prison Families Community Forum and Prison Families of NY, Inc. Through lawsuits, legislative reform, public education and grassroots organizing, the campaign works to mobilize public opposition against a little known partnership between Verizon/ (MCI) and the New York State Department of Corrections (NYDOCS) that collects millions of dollars in profits each year from families trying to maintain contact with their loved ones in prison.

Public outrage is the most powerful tool to end the unjustly punitive and discriminatory treatment of a targeted population of people. Marshaling the voices of the wives, mothers, and children who are directly affected the NY Campaign for Telephone Justice brings this injustice to the attention of the broader public through a range of media, events, legislative advocacy and direct actions. With adequate public pressure, we can achieve the reform urgently needed to end the existing Verizon/MCI contract as well as ensure proper oversight of future telephone service contracts in the prison system. If you are as outraged as I am about this practice I urge you to take action.

Visit the NYCTJ website at www.telephonejustice.org. Join folks who have called Verizon's CEO (Ivan Seidenberg) at 1-800-621-9900 and Governor Pataki at 212 681 4580 every Wednesday to tell them that "the fact that a communications provider would exploit families for financial gain and that NYS would cooperate with it through this phone contract that overcharges families by 630% and gives NYS a 57.5% kickback is unconscionable!!" You can also encourage the passage of the legislative bills - Family Connections Bill A.7231 and S.5299. Call 212 614 6421 for more info.

Marion Rodriguez: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 6:05 AM, Feb 22, 2006 in Financial Justice
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