Bianca Tylek: The multibillion-dollar US prison industry -- and how to dismantle it | TED Fellows

A phone call to a US prison or jail can cost up to a dollar per minute -- a rate that forces one in three families with incarcerated loved ones into debt. In this searing talk about mass incarceration, criminal justice advocate and TED Fellow Bianca Tylek exposes the predatory nature of the billion-dollar prison telecom industry and presents straightforward strategies to dismantle the network of corporations that has a financial interest in seeing more people behind bars for longer periods of time.

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[BezzantSam]

Coming from someone who’s formerly incarcerated: the financial hardship the families have to face especially with the phone system and the isolation people without money and families have to face because of choices they made in their addictions is terrible. It sets them up for social failure upon release.

[DrLuke]

The reason why it will never be dismantled is in the very title:
*"multibillion dollar"*

[ilywakeup]

after 4 years in the air force and then straight to prison for 6 years years my brother will be coming home in 2 weeks. he’s a good man. he didn’t deserve it.

[roman-yt]

The fact that prisoners in the Usa commit a second crime after they finish their sentence with a likelyhood of 80% compared to nice human like prisons in westeurope with a rate of 20% is the evidence critics need

[Shazistic]

Be kind to others, because kindness is contagious.

[Goobian]

the War on Drugs was never about punishing people it was about the money to be made. The prison population would go down if companies didn't make money off of prisoners being in there.

[rklauco]

Wait a second - I've been told that all-powerful market will solve the issue...

[JugglinJellyTake]

Prisons should be taken back into public ownership and the punitive sentences greatly reduced.

[alicesmith]

Depending on one stream of income had never made any millionaire and earning check doesn't put you in Forbes

[ScottTrosien]

Don’t do the crime of you don’t want to do the time. It’s a matter of choice. It’s not society. It’s not “the system”. It’s choice to not do illegal things. I grew up poor to a single mom on footsteps and welfare in Detroit yet i didn’t hang out with those who would influence me to poor behaviors. That was a choice.

[diffmull]

Please remove the sound effects; they belittle the subject.

[holocoffin]

I hear people saying "Don't want to be tortured and have your family ruined? Don't break these laws that are not enforced equally ?" 👀 that makes no sense. Prison doesn't prevent crime. A great book on this subject is "Are Prisons Obsolete?" By Angela Davis. Prisons are modern day slavery.

[brett]

In Alaska, the jail phone system does not allow calls to cell phones. I heard is some kind of vague security issue. But, I bet it has something to do with the ability of the prison system to bill against cell phone providers. If you make a mistake and you end up in jail, you better know the phone number of your contact and the contact has a landline. You might be lucky and have a phone book available, but that phonebook will be beat up and missing many pages.

I mentioned this in court once and the judge and everyone present did not believe me.

The prison system does everything it can to prevent you from legally getting out. You're just an income stream to them.

[blueeyes]

So we LISTEN to injustice, but what can be DONE?! ⚖

[russian]

In California the criminal justice system has become a feedback loop. Officers arrest, DA prosecutes, public defender negotiates a plea deal. Judges sentence, correctional officers house & feed while in prison, upon release a parole agent monitors the parolee. He/she commits a new crime. It starts all over. None of these “public servants” benefits by a lower crime rate or a lesser sentence. Also, the longer the sentence the less likely the prisoner will be able to fit back into society and the more likely he/she will reoffend. It’s a feedback loop. Only the public looses.

[glutenfreegamr]

I could look past these fees IF the prison systems were ACTUALLY reforming incarcerated people.

[carynwalker]

I'm greatful to see that these beautiful, people are bringing this into the light, and letting everyone see the truth and greediness, of it all.Its not right.

[macewbee]

Sad but this is like modern-day slavery or involuntary servitude

[dsheridan]

This doesn't even take into consideration how difficult it is to actually make/receive the calls. I was in fact paying almost $1 per hour (if I bought the package) when my not guilty son was in jail. Not convicted, just jailed.

[desiretoustou]

if we spend the money before, fewer people would be thrown in jail.