Payne County Commissioners approve contracts for jail commissary and communications

Jul. 8—The Payne County Board of Commissioners focused on contracts during its June 29 meeting, the final meeting of fiscal year 2021/2022. The agenda included a lengthy list of contracts for the next fiscal year which began July 1.

Jail Administrator Reese Lane appeared before the commissioners to request approval of two contracts for the Payne County Jail. The first involved a new vendor to provide commissary supplies, items like snack food and personal care supplies, for inmates.

Friends and family must deposit money into the inmates's account — either online or through a kiosk in the Payne County Courthouse — for the inmate to make purchases. Under last year's provider, Tiger Commissary, they paid a 12% processing fee to Heartland Payment Services on each deposit.

Under the terms of the new contract, CTC Commissary of Louisiana will have the exclusive right to sell commissary products to inmates at the jail. The prices inmates pay for items sold by CTC were not disclosed in the agreement.

Under the terms of the agreement, CTC will pay the Payne County Sheriff's Office 37% of gross sales compared to the 29% commission it received from Tiger Commissary.

The second agreement involving the jail concerned phone and visitation services for inmates.

Under the terms of this agreement with Citi Tele Coin Company, also from Louisiana, the Payne County Sheriff's Office will receive 60% of the revenue from inmates making direct pay calls with funds that are deposited into an account with the company, collect calls and prepaid calling cards.

They will also be able to video chat and send emails using the City Tele Coin app.

The commissions earned on inmate communications can be a significant source of revenue for correctional authorities.

Rates charged to the inmates in Payne County were not disclosed in the agreement but the City Tele Coin website says interstate calls by inmates are capped by the Federal Communications Commission at 21 cents per minute for debit and pre-paid calls and 25 cents per minute for collect calls.

In-state rates are regulated at the state level.

In 2015 the FCC announced it was capping rates for both interstate and in-state calls at 11 cents per minute for debit or prepaid calls from state or federal prisons, 14 cents per minute from jails with 1,000 or more inmates, 16 cents per minute from jails with 350-999 inmates and 22 cents per minute from jails with up to 349 inmates.

The Oklahoma Department of Corrections kept about $2.30 of the $3 inmates had paid for a 15-minute call in 2015, earning the agency a projected $32 million over 10 years, Oklahoma Watch reported.

The FCC's cap on in-state rates was struck down by a federal appeals court in 2017, once again leaving it to states to determine charges.

In 2019, calls from the Payne County jail cost 35 cents per minute for in-state calls and 25 cents for out of state calls, which fell under FCC rate caps.

At the time, former Payne County Sheriff Kevin Woodward said phone and video calls generated more than $100,000 annually for his department.

Woodward said having the ability to make video calls helped attorneys to confer remotely with federal prisoners housed at the jail.

Mayfield told the Board of Commissioner his company utilizes an app that is installed on apple or android phones to allow individuals from across the country to communicate with prisoners in the Payne County Jail.

The Sheriff's office will receive 25% of revenue generated from video calls and messages over tablets. Citi Tele Coin will also pay 20% of revenue generated by media apps through tablets the company will provide for inmate use.

The agreement provides that Citi Tele Coin will provide 70 tablets for use by inmates and the Sheriff's office is required to provide training for a video system administrator and an internet connection for the tablets to function. The agreement provides that the Sheriff's office will receive a $3,500 technology bonus for certification and training of employees to operate the system.

Citi Tele Coin will provide the hardware to operate the tablets. The Sheriff's office is also required to provide visitation station units for the tablets.

The revisions in the contract were "in keeping with the times," Lane said.

Installation of the system is scheduled to be completed within 90 to 120 days.