[felixc]

Because of this (quoting from the article):

"To impress state corrections officials and gain their business, JPay spends heavily on industry conventions attended by agency heads with contracting authority. During a 2012 convention of the American Correctional Association, the company threw what it called an “END OF THE WORLD PARTY” at a Denver wine bar that bills itself as “about you, and your inalienable right to the unbridled enjoyment of food and wine.”

The invitation, printed on a disposable beer coaster, promised “a bash, JPay-style: fuerte tequila, hand-rolled cigars, a live mariachi band.” Conventioneers could catch a JPay shuttle leaving from the hotel “ALL NIGHT LONG,” it said."

[corford]

That actually makes it easier. Build a non-profit competitor, get the press, charities & public behind it and shame the fuckers in to switching. With material like that it would be like shooting fish in a barrel.

[felixc]

One would hope so, but I suspect that they don't care about public perception, and a surprisingly large slice of the public would actually be supportive of punitive treatment of prisoners' families.

[jMyles]

> large slice of the public would actually be supportive of punitive treatment of prisoners' families.

I refuse to believe this.

[jackvalentine]

> "Specifically, the stigma' of incarceration and the accusation of shamelessness are not reserved for offenders; as recent empirical and ethnographic research confirms, the families of convicted and incarcerated persons experience a significant stigma as well."

AUSTIN, R. 2004. Shame of It All: Stigma and the Political Disenfranchisement of Formerly Convicted and Incarcerated Persons, The. Colum. Hum. Rts. L. Rev., 36, 173.

[kamaal]

Corrupt systems don't work that way. In a system which operates at this level of ease, corruption is so far deep into the system that nothing is out of it. It works more like a food chain, and every level co operates with every other level for its own survival.

Most common people have no incentive apart from the moral appeal of it unless they are directly effected by this injustice. The press is largely a privately owned business these days and rest of the system has a lot of vested interest in keeping this unjust system up and running.

[Spooky23]

The decision makers are civil service types who are basically accountable to nobody. The Deputy Superintendent of Corrections Administration doesn't give a hoot.

Corrections officers have strong unions with ironwood support from their legislators, so it is very difficult to get the executive branch in most states to care about anyth that pisses the unions off.

[bjourne]

Why would prison guard unions be in favor of ripping of prisoners with ridiculous fees?

[Spooky23]

They use usurious feed to find prison expenses.

[tankenmate]

Perceived control.

[deciplex]

The fuckers have no shame to begin with, and as far as much of the public is concerned, if you're in jail your very life is expendable, and most people don't give a flying fuck about inmate's families, either.

[rhizome]

You can't shame people who have no shame.