Feb 4, 2022, 09:00 ET
Smart Communications, a leading provider of specialized inmate communication technologies, announced today that the Board of County Commissioners for Jackson County, Michigan awarded Smart Communications a new, five-year contract that will substantially reduce phone call rates for inmates of Jackson County Jail and their families from the current $0.75 per minute to $0.19 per minute.
Under the terms of the new contract, a 15-minute phone call from an incarcerated person will be substantially reduced—from $11.25 to $2.85. In addition, Smart Communications agreed to provide tablets for use by inmates to make phone calls, email, text, review postal mail, and access educational and entertainment content at no additional cost to the County and free of any rental or access fees to the inmates.
"We're delighted with this opportunity to provide our innovative and patented technologies to Jackson County Jail in our ongoing mission to end the exorbitant rates charged by competitor providers that financially punish families for simply wanting to stay in touch with their loved ones. Under this new contract, Jackson County Jail inmates have a vital lifeline to the outside world at a low-cost, even no-cost, rate," said Jon Logan, Founder and CEO of Smart Communications. "Families shouldn't have to choose between paying their rent or mortgage, or staying in touch with a loved one who's incarcerated. We are grateful to Jackson County for their confidence in our ability to facilitate efficient, low-cost communications between inmates and their families while at the same time improving safety and decreasing the burden on the citizen taxpayers."
Smart Communications will pay the Office of the Sheriff $300,000 as commission in each of the five years of the contract. Commission funds will then be designated for various costs associated with operations, including overtime costs for jail employees. The added services that Smart Communications is providing the Office of the Sheriff include its proprietary SmartTablets™, its SmartInmate™ Electronic Messaging system, its patented MailGuard® Postal Mail Elimination System (which has demonstrated its effectiveness in significantly reducing or eliminating altogether contraband coming into prisons), and its Video Visitation system—all at no cost to the Sheriff's Office or County. Inmates will be charged $0.15 per minute for video visitation, $0.01 per minute for streaming of premium entertainment (basic content can be streamed at no cost), and will be provided with credits to send two free weekly electronic messages per week ($.50 per message sent thereafter).
Smart Communications was established in 2009 to provide industry-disrupting technologies and currently services approximately 150 correctional facilities in more than 25 states nationwide. For additional information about Smart Communications and its patented technologies, refer to: www.smartcommunications.us
Aug 22, 2019, 09:05 ET
SEMINOLE, Fla., Aug. 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- On August 15, 2019, Smart Communications, the leader in inmate communication technology and systems that digitize, analyze, and eliminate inmate postal mail, filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Rutherford County, Tennessee, its Adult Detention Center, and certain of its commanding officials. The complaint alleges that defendants infringe Smart Communications' U.S. Patent No. 10,291,617, entitled "Correctional Postal Mail Contraband Elimination System," through their use of postal-mail-elimination technology provided by other vendors at Rutherford County's jail facility. Smart Communications seeks unspecified monetary damages for defendants' willful infringement and an injunction to prevent their continued infringement.
Smart Communications has a long history of designing and developing cutting-edge technology for inmate communications and bringing new technology and services to the corrections industry. Its patented MailGuard® system of eliminating postal mail by converting that mail into an electronic copy sent to inmate kiosks and tablets was introduced to the corrections industry in early 2016, exclusively by Smart Communications. MailGuard® technology eliminates the infiltration of drugs in postal mail, increases safety and security at the facility, and, accordingly, is highly valuable to the marketplace. The demand for this technology is driving other vendors to reproduce Smart Communications' MailGuard® system, without authorization, in the hopes of obtaining additional business. But such vendors who provide knock-offs of Smart Communications' patented MailGuard® technology recklessly expose their correctional-facility customers to patent infringement liability.
"We have invested heavily in developing our technology and intellectual property, and we will take aggressive action to protect our patented invention and other intellectual property when it becomes necessary," said Jonathan Logan, CEO of Smart Communications. "Unfortunately, we believe Rutherford County is the first of many agencies that will be paying the consequences for their infringement as a result of engaging vendors who copy our patented MailGuard® system."
The case is Smart Communications IP Holdings v. Rutherford County, Tennessee et al., number 3:19-cv-00714, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.
Smart Communications is a pioneer in the inmate-communications industry. It developed and provided the first kiosk-based electronic-messaging system for correctional facilities, and its groundbreaking postal-mail-elimination technology enables facilities to stop the infiltration of drugs and other dangerous contraband. Visit http://www.smartcommunications.us/ for more information about its innovative products and services.
The days of smoke and mirrors are over, Smart Communications is the new industry leader. Are you ready to take your inmate communications to the next level?