Securus Technologies

Securus Technologies, Inc.
Company typePrivate
IndustryTechnology, Rehabilitative Electronics, Telecommunications for Correctional Facilities
Founded1986; 39 years ago (1986) (as TZ Holdings Inc.)
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
FounderRichard Smith
Headquarters
Carrollton, Texas
,
U.S.
ProductsTablets, Money Transfers, Communications, education, and reentry services for incarcerated individuals.
OwnerPlatinum Equity
Number of employees
1,600+ (estimated)
ParentPlatinum equity
Websitewww.Aventiv.com securustech.net

Securus Technologies is a technology communications firm serving prisons across the United States.[1][2] The company is a subsidiary of Aventiv Technologies. In the past, the company has faced criticism over phone call pricing, data security, monopoly[3] and product innovation.[4]

Securus is owned by Beverly Hills–based private equity firm Platinum Equity.[5]

History

Securus was founded as TZ Holdings Inc. in 1986 in Dallas, Texas. The company changed its name from TZ Holdings Inc. to Securus Technologies in April 2009.[6] During the 2010s, Securus was one of a number of companies which provided telephone service to inmates in US prisons.[7] Securus was partially acquired by ABRY Partners from Castle Harlan in 2013 for $640 million.[8][9] The company was the target of a data breach of about 70 million records of phone calls in July 2015.[10] Since its inception, Securus has acquired 20 government services, software-based businesses, technologies, patents and exclusive partner agreements.[11]

The company was acquired in 2017 by Beverly Hills-based private equity firm Platinum Equity, owned by billionaire Tom Gores.[5] In 2019, Platinum Equity announced plans to reorganize the company as a more diverse technology company, and created Aventiv Technologies as Securus' new corporate parent.[12]

In October 2020, Securus Technologies partnered with Televerde.[citation needed] In this collaboration, Televerde will offer inbound customer service to friends and families of imprisoned people on live support networks, promoting the transition and training Securus users on the use of its goods.[citation needed]

Securus was founded as TZ Holdings Inc. in 1986 in Dallas, Texas. The company changed its name from TZ Holdings Inc. to Securus Technologies in April 2009.[6] During the 2010s, Securus was one of a number of companies which provided telephone service to individuals in US correctional facilities.[7] Securus was partially acquired by ABRY Partners from Castle Harlan in 2013 for $640 million.[8][9] The company was the target of a data breach of about 70 million records of phone calls in July 2015.[10] Since its inception, Securus has acquired 20 government services, software-based businesses, technologies, patents and exclusive partner agreements.[11]

In July 2015 Securus Technologies announced that it acquired JPay Inc technology and financial services provider.

In mid-January 2020, Aventiv Technologies named Dave Abel as its president and CEO. Abel committed to reform corporate policies and practices, acknowledging the company "faced criticism in the past over pricing, data security, product innovation and other issues."[13]

Operations

Securus is headquartered in Dallas, Texas with regional offices located in Carrollton, Texas, Miramar, Missouri, and Houston, Texas. The company employs approximately 1,600 people and is reported to have contracts with 2,600 correctional facilities in the United States.[14][15]

By the end of 2021, Aventiv Technologies deployed over 400,000 tablet devices to incarcerated individuals including 100,000 tablets that Securus Technologies made available to incarcerated individuals in Texas for free, with additional content expected to cover the costs.[16]

Communication costs

Prices for calls vary greatly among institutions, with first-minute charges from over US$5 to 4 cents, and from over US$1 to 4 cents for subsequent minutes.[17] Prices of out-of-state calls were capped by the FCC to around 21 cents per minute; however, instate rates at many jails and prisons continue to be much higher.[18] On December 8, 2021, Aventiv Technologies announced that the average per minute cost of calls made by incarcerated individuals with Aventiv technology was reduced from $0.15 per minute to a record-low $0.13 per minute.[19]

In 2017, the company announced its Wireless Containment Solution, which was developed to prevent contraband cell phones from connecting to mobile networks.[20] As of November 2017, the company reported that the Wireless Containment Solution system has blocked 1.7 million inmate calls from prisons.[21]

In 2021, the California Public Utilities Commission capped the calling rates at detention facilities in the state at $0.07 per minute.

Criticism and controversy

In 2015, Securus aggressively lobbied to strike down Federal Communications Commission intervention regarding pricing regulation for inmate communications.[22]

On May 10, 2018, The New York Times revealed that one of Securus' products can be used to track the location of almost any phone in the US within seconds. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) has sent letters to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and telecommunications companies demanding answers on the controversial surveillance system.[23] In June, 2022, a US Marshal was indicted by the Department of Justice for abusing the product to track people he knew, uploading blank documents and pretending he had authority to track people he had personal relationships with and their spouses.[24] Securus responded to the indictment that they had "discontinued the tool more than four years ago and permanently shut it off.[25]

The prison phone industry has been criticized for charging high fees and profiting off of vulnerable inmates.[26][9] In 2019, New York City passed a bill ensuring 21 minutes of free phone calls for all inmates in New York City jails; before the bill, the phone contract with Securus had generated $5 million in revenue for the city and $2.5 million for Securus.[23]

In 2015, Securus fees were the following:

  • Around 10% for bank transfer[27]
  • Between $0.35 and $0.50 for "virtual stamps" per page of email.[28][22]
  • Around $20 per hour for video chat[29]

In 2019, was found to covertly record and fingerprint inmates' and their correspondents voices by monitoring phone calls, to automatically flag the "suspicious" ones. Securus did not respond to a request for comment on how it defined “suspicious.” In some states, enrollment in the voice recognition program is mandatory to be able to make calls. Voice prints produced by the program are permanently archived at Securus’s facility in Texas.[30]

Securus faced a class action lawsuit in 2024 with the plaintiffs claiming that the company engaged in a "quid pro quo kickback scheme" with county jails in Michigan which banned in-person visits in order to maximize revenue from voice and video calls.[31]

See also

References

  1. ^ Markowitz, Eric (8 April 2015). "Video Chats Are Replacing In-Person Jail Visits, While One Tech Company Profits". IBTimes. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  2. ^ "About Us - Securus Technologies". securustech.net. Retrieved 2019-05-04.
  3. ^ "State of Phone Justice". www.prisonpolicy.org. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  4. ^ Prison Labor: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO), 4 August 2019, retrieved 2019-09-25
  5. ^ a b Darmiento, Laurence (2020-01-21). "Under pressure from activists, L.A. billionaire's prison telecom announces reforms". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2020-01-22.
  6. ^ a b "Company Overview of Securus Technologies, Inc". Bloomberg.
  7. ^ a b Connor, Tracy (22 October 2015). "'Huge Step': FCC Slashes Costs of Prison Phone Calls". NBC News. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  8. ^ a b Dan Primack (April 8, 2013). "Private Equity Deals". Fortune.
  9. ^ a b c Williams, Timothy (2015-03-30). "The High Cost of Calling the Imprisoned". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-05-04.
  10. ^ a b Young, Stephen (November 12, 2015). "Dallas-Based Prison Phone Company Securus Hit by Massive Hack". Dallas Observer. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  11. ^ a b Kirk Falconer (December 1, 2016). "ABRY Partners' Securus Buys PHD Medical's Telemedicine Assets". PEhub. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
  12. ^ Womack, Brian (2019-10-08). "Dallas-area company that's targeted prison populations realigns structure, broadens reach". Dallas Business Journal. Retrieved 2020-01-22.
  13. ^ "Dave Abel Named Chief Executive Officer Of Aventiv Technologies And Its Corrections Subsidiary Securus Technologies". Platinum Equity.
  14. ^ Kozlowska, Hanna (May 9, 2015). "Prison communications company Securus will no longer require jails to ban in-person visits". Quartz. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  15. ^ "Securus Technologies Inc". PrivCo.
  16. ^ "110,000 Texas prison inmates to get computer tablets with apps, radio and email". 17 September 2021.
  17. ^ "2018 Phone Rates Survey". Prison Policy Initiative. Retrieved 2019-05-04.
  18. ^ Wagner, Peter; Jones, Alexi. "State of Phone Justice". Prison Policy Initiative. Retrieved 2019-05-04.
  19. ^ "Securus Technologies Announces Record-Low Average Call Rate of $0.13 Per Minute and More Than 95 Million Free Connections". Aventiv Technologies. 8 December 2021.
  20. ^ "Securus Technologies Announces the Activation of Additional Wireless Containment Solution Installation" (Press release). Securus Technologies, Inc. February 7, 2017 – via Corrections.com.
  21. ^ Willard Shepard (November 6, 2017). "Ex-Corrections Officer Works to Disconnect Inmates' Cell Phones". WTVJ. Miami, Florida.
  22. ^ a b "Exhibit 3" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-07-27.
  23. ^ a b Greenberg, Zoe (2018-08-06). "Phone Calls From New York City Jails Will Soon Be Free". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-05-04.
  24. ^ Valentino-DeVries, Jennifer (2018-05-11). "Service Meant to Monitor Inmates' Calls Could Track You, Too". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  25. ^ "US Marshal Charged for Using Cop Phone Location Tool to Track People He Knew". www.vice.com. 14 June 2022.
  26. ^ Wagner, Peter; Jones, Alexi. "State of Phone Justice: Local jails, state prisons and private phone providers". Prison Policy Initiative. Retrieved 2019-05-04.
  27. ^ "The multi-million dollar market of sending money to an incarcerated loved one". Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  28. ^ Law, Victoria. "How Companies Make Millions Charging Prisoners to Send An Email". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  29. ^ "Screening Out Family Time". www.prisonpolicy.org. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  30. ^ Joseph, George; Nathan, Debbie (January 30, 2019). "Prisons Across the U.S. Are Quietly Building Databases of Incarcerated People's Voice Prints". The Intercept. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  31. ^ "Jails banned visits in "quid pro quo" with prison phone companies, lawsuits say". Ars Technica. 29 March 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2024.