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Vice News Tonight examines the exploitative video visitation industry

Vice News Tonight examines the growth of the exploitive video visitation industry; highlighting the human toll of switching from the real thing to an artificial – and costly – substitute.

by Lucius Couloute, June 28, 2017

Across the country jails are replacing in-person visits with video chats that can cost over $1 per minute; and as our national research on the 600+ facilities that have implemented video visitation illustrates, the collusion between local jails and telecom companies ignores the needs of incarcerated people and their loved ones in favor of profits.

In a new segment that aired on HBO last night, Vice News Tonight examined the growth of the exploitive video visitation industry in California; speaking with jail administrators, FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, and the families themselves in order to highlight the human toll of switching from the real thing to an artificial – and costly – substitute. Check out the piece above!

Related briefings:

  1. Movement victory: FCC proposes to regulate prison phone rates +
  2. The good old days of the exploitative prison phone industry? +
  3. Protecting incarcerated people and their loved ones from the video visitation industry +

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