New lawsuits allege that prisons in California's Los Angeles County and San Diego County charge inmates "extortionate" prices on phone calls and commissary items.
Barry Litt, one of the lawyers behind the class-action lawsuits, said
his team plans similar action against six other southern Californian
counties.
- The suits argue that the
marked-up prices for commissary items and phone calls constitute an
illegal tax on inmates and their families.
- The Los Angeles
lawsuit criticizes the county's use of private contractors for supplying
commissary products and phone calls because the county receives revenue
from the companies it contracts with.
- County audits show that phone calls and commissary sales generate $35M in annual revenue for Los Angeles County jails.
- Counties should pay inmates and their families back for nearly two years of marked-up prices, the lawsuit says.
- The plaintiffs' attorneys say that the figure could reach tens of millions of dollars.
- Two years ago the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a motion
to end commissary goods mark-ups and make phone calls free for the
~14,000 inmates in Los Angeles County jails. The changes have not yet
been implemented.
- Last year, California passed a law that allows inmates to make free calls but the legislation applies only to state prisons, not to county jails.
