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The Hays County Commissioners Court approved a new contract with Securus Technologies, Inc. for the county jail, following a lengthy discussion.
The commissioners voted Tuesday to adopt a 3.5-year contract with Securus for inmate kiosks, which include MP3 players and accessories, and phone system. The contract uses the National Association of State Procurement Officials ValuePoint Master Agreement, which according to the agenda item, “provides the highest standard of excellence in public cooperative contracting. By leveraging the leadership and expertise of all states and the purchasing power of their public entities.”
The new contract was previously on the court’s agenda for Dec. 17, 2019’s meeting. But it was pulled citing concerns with Securus, said County Judge Ruben Becerra.
“A ton of concerns were shot my way, a ton of them, when this agenda item came up,” Becerra said. “I was ultimately asked to pull it. And my phone and every way of communicating with me was just blowing me up. And I’ve got to be honest, I didn’t even know who Securus was. I really didn’t.”
Securus Technologies is the largest inmate communications provider, according to its website. The communications company is headquartered in Dallas and works with over 3,400 public safety, law enforcement and corrections agencies and more than 1.2 million inmates across North America.
Securus has faced scrutiny for developing phone tracking technologies and charging high costs for services. According to a New York Times article from May 2018, Securus Technologies offered a lesser-known service that can track people’s cell phones. “The service can find the whereabouts of almost any cellphone in the country within seconds. It does this by going through a system typically used by marketers and other companies to get location data from major cellphone carriers, including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon, documents show,” The New York Times reported.
Hays County Sheriff Gary Cutler, however, said he’s had a successful relationship with Securus since he was elected in 2010.
“A matter of fact, I went to them a couple of years ago, asking if there’d be interest to install visitation equipment in our jail by video,” Cutler said. “They did that so the inmates could use video visitation to talk to their family that couldn’t come down and on days a meet them in person.”
Cutler added that the sheriff's office doesn’t receive any revenue generated from Securus’ phone services. “If someone thinks the money is going to the sheriff’s department that’s not true. We don’t collect the money. We never see the money. It goes through the auditor’s office. So, there’s no money coming to the sheriff’s department from Securus, it goes through the county,” Cutler said.
The current phone rate at the Hays County Jail is $5.01 to connect and then $0.36 for each minute, making a 15-minute call $10.41.
Hays County Captain of Corrections Julie Villalpando said phone rates would decrease by approving the new contract. She said the rate would now be $0.32 a minute, which makes a 15-minute phone call cost $4.80. Villalpando added that video call rates would remain the same at $5.95 for a 20-minute video visit.
Villalpando said Securus has always been responsive to the county’s needs.
“They’re the undisputed leader in this industry,” she said. “To my knowledge, we’ve had no complaints from the inmates or their families regarding the products of Securus. Again, Securus has proven their service to Hays County by providing a quick response to our needs and repairs and replace of inmate phones and equipment.”
She also added that if the county were to choose to go with another communications company, it could cost Hays County taxpayers an additional $30,000 to set up new infrastructure.
When asked by Precinct 2 Commissioner Mark Jones if current calls between inmates and attorneys were being recorded, Villalpando said no. “We’re not recording inmate phone calls,” she said. “The attorneys are required to notify us. It’s also listed on our website to notify us and then that option will not be recorded and that’s been explained to the Bar association.”
Following a lengthy discussion, the court approved the 3.5-year contract with an amendment for increased auditing for the services, 4-1, with Becerra voting no.
The court also approved a second item with Securus during Tuesday’s meeting. The commissioners voted 4-1 to “execute a Master Services Agreement between Hays County and Securus Technologies, LLC, related to the table services and application in the jail facility.
