(C) Florida Phoenix This story was originally published by Florida Phoenix and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Group of FL inmates sue vendor over loss of digital media, like songs, movies and game apps [1] ['Mitch Perry', 'More From Author', '- August'] Date: 2023-08-01 A group of inmates serving time in Florida prisons are suing a telecom prison vendor, saying the company deprived prisoners of their property — tablet computers and digital content they’d originally paid for to listen to songs, watch movies or play games from apps. What happened? The vendor exchanged tablet computers for new tablets that prisoners say did not include the digital content that inmates paid for. The issue has spawned at least a half a dozen lawsuits and an “active consumer protection investigation” by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office. Inmates in Florida are able to buy such content from money they collect in their inmate trust fund, from friends and or loved ones who have been approved from the Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) or through a service called JPay. “I do understand them filing suit,” says Denice Rock, the executive director with Florida Cares, an advocacy group that works with the incarcerated. “They’ve lost music, messages, photographs, memories and money. And I do think it’s time now for the courts to address this and make this private contractor accountable.” In 2017 the Florida Department of Corrections contracted with JPay – a South Florida based corporation who has become one of the largest prison technology providers in the country – to provide stationary kiosks and tablets to all prison inmates. Those inmates originally had to pay for the tablets — between $70-$140 — but JPay announced that they wanted to give all state inmates brand new JP6S “loaner” tablets at no cost. They could only get the new tablets after they surrendered the JP5 tablets back to the company. At least a half dozen lawsuits Constantine Kalogianis is a former Pasco County attorney who is serving a nine-year sentence for fraud and forgery at Florida State Prison in Raiford. He filed a lawsuit in Northeast Florida’s Bradford County, saying that none of the music or movie apps he had already paid for on his JP5 tablet were transferred to his new tablet. Kalogianis alleges the company “purposefully deprived him of his ability to listen and watch 78 licensed songs and five licensed movies” when he received his JP6S tablet and that content was not automatically transferred on to the new player. He is demanding $340 in damages from JPay, as well as the costs of his lawsuit. “JPAY is quick to take our money, but then refuses to compensate prisoners after depriving them of their property,” Kalogianis told the Phoenix in a statement he sent via Florida Cares, an advocacy organization for the incarcerated. “On or about October 14, 2022, JPAY engaged in unfair methods of competition, unconscionable acts or practices, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of its trade or commerce,” his lawsuit states. Five other inmates currently housed at Florida State Prison in Raiford have filed similar lawsuits, all claiming that JPay has deprived them from listening to songs, watching movies or playing games from apps that they had previous paid for with the JP5 tablets. They are asking for damages ranging from $540 to $2,000. Kalogianis is doing the legal work for himself and the other five inmates. He says that it’s unfortunate that there’s not a way to represent all the affected inmates throughout the Florida corrections system. “Many are unsure how to go about getting compensated for their lost music, and, therefore, are likely to do little to nothing as a result,” he says. “This is the kind of outrageous behavior that we have all come to expect from JPay, unfortunately,” says Lamar Hay IV, another plaintiff, who is serving time for burglary and grand theft. “Somebody has to stand up to these guys. May as well be me.” Families and friends concerned Family members and friends of the incarcerated say the same situation has happened to virtually every inmate in Florida’s corrections system, some of whom have had their content ultimately restored, but many others still going without the programs that they paid for. “Within our circle of connection, we’ve definitely not heard of anyone who hasn’t lost media,” says the wife of an incarcerated inmate who asked to remain anonymous because her husband is involved with litigation with the Florida Department of Corrections on an unrelated case. “Everyone who spoken has said ‘my loved one lost media.’ We’ve only heard of a few people who said once that dump happened their loved one got back everything they were missing.” Rock, of Florida Cares, said: “I feel like the incarcerated people and the Department of Corrections has tried to cure the problem that has existed with JPay and the tablets for some time now, probably going on for about a year to no avail.” Dianne Abshire, who has two loved ones in Florida prisons said, “The problem is that nobody is taking any responsibility and the frustration is these are media companies, and I would think that this would be an easy switch. The old tablet and the new tablet are owned by the same corporation – they’re different divisions, but at the end of the day it should be no problem to switch songs over from to the other, but they just were not able to do it.” A former class-action suit JPay was acquired in 2015 by Securus, a prisoner telecommunications company. Their parent company is Dallas-based Aventiv Technologies. A spokesperson for Aventiv told the Phoenix last week that they do not comment on issues related to litigation. This isn’t the first time that a vendor has dropped the digital content of Florida inmates since such programming has been available. From 2011 to 2017, the Florida Department of Corrections entered into a contact with Access Corporations to allow inmates to purchase and pay for programs on MP3 players. But in 2017 when the FDC contracted with JPay to transition to have inmates purchase tablet computers, inmates were ordered to give back their MP3 players, with the promise that the music and other programs that they had purchased on the MP3 players would be transferred over to their new devices. But those programs weren’t transferred, leading to a class-action lawsuit filed by inmates against the corrections agency. The two parties reached a settlement in 2020, with inmates winning 3.9 million in media credits. The FDC also agreed separately to pay $150,000 in attorney’s fees. News that Attorney General Ashley Moody is now investigating the situation was welcomed by family members of inmates. A spokesperson for Moody’s office told the Phoenix on Monday about the consumer protection investigation. Several family members had told the Phoenix that they had reached out to Moody’s office for help but had not heard anything back. “We’ve gotten no response from her and we know that many people have contacted the attorney general’s office and have gotten nothing,” says Rock. “I think that it’s really unfortunate.” New York effort Compare that to what happened in New York after state inmates there complained that tablets from JPay’s computer tablets either arrived later than scheduled, had defects, weren’t delivered or that the company didn’t refund them for content missing from their tablets. Attorney General Letitia James investigated and ultimately came to an agreement with the company requiring JPay to provide digital stamps to every inmate in state prison, as well as pay $50,000 in penalties. “The agreement between the attorney general and JPay requires the company to provide 100 digital stamps to every incarcerated individual housed in a state prison — a value of $500,000 … Digital stamps are used to pay for messages sent between incarcerated individuals and their approved contacts, such as family members,” according to The Citizen and auburnpub.com. Wanda Bertram, a spokesperson for the Prison Policy Initiative, says the situation that Florida inmates have had to contend with over the last year is “just another example of JPay trying to make money off of incarcerated people and their loved ones.” She added: “If anything, it probably means the prospect of lawsuits is baked in this company’s strategy and they are making enough money that even if they do get sued and they do have to settle that’s just a drop in the bucket for them.” [END] --- [1] Url: https://floridaphoenix.com/2023/08/01/group-of-fl-inmates-sue-vendor-over-loss-of-digital-media-like-songs-movies-and-game-apps/ Published and (C) by Florida Phoenix Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/floridaphoenix/