This explainer is based on Prison Communications & Financial Exploitation: The Extraction Economy Behind Bars. All statistics and findings are drawn directly from this source.
Why This Research Matters for Advocacy
This GPS investigative research brief is one of the most comprehensive documents available on the prison communications extraction system — and it puts Georgia squarely in the spotlight.
Georgia ranks third in the nation in commission kickback revenue from prison phone calls. The state collected $8,062,200.60 in a single fiscal year from a system designed to charge captive families the highest possible rates. That money flows directly from some of the poorest communities in the state — disproportionately women of color — into state coffers.
This research lands at a critical moment. The FCC’s historic 2024 rate caps, which would have saved families nationwide approximately $500 million per year, have been gutted. The October 2025 interim rules raised rate caps by 83% and restored a backdoor commission system through a so-called “facility cost recovery” fee. Meanwhile, six states and New York City have made prison calls completely free — proving the alternative model works — while Georgia’s General Assembly has not advanced a single bill.
For advocates, this document provides:
- Georgia-specific cost data that quantifies the burden on families ($115–$135/month for regular contact in state prisons, far more in county jails)
- The private equity ownership chain connecting Securus, JPay, and Platinum Equity — including the near-bankruptcy that proves the current model is built on unsustainable debt, not legitimate costs
- The unregulated tablet extraction frontier where companies are shifting revenue to email ($0.20–$0.35 per message), music (up to $46/album), and entertainment services the FCC cannot touch
- County jail data showing that legally innocent people awaiting trial face even worse exploitation — 69% commission rates, $8 video calls, and $1 text messages
- A direct comparison with free-call states that saw call volumes more than double, demonstrating years of suppressed family contact
This is actionable intelligence for the 2026 Georgia legislative session, for FCC public comment periods, and for building the coalition that makes Georgia the seventh state to end this extraction.
Key Takeaway: Georgia ranks third nationally in prison phone kickback revenue while six other states have made calls free, making this research a powerful tool for state-level legislative campaigns and federal regulatory advocacy.
Talking Points
Georgia profits from family separation. The state collected $8,062,200.60 in commission kickbacks from prison phone revenue in fiscal year 2018–2019 — the third-highest total in the nation. Every dollar of that revenue was extracted from families trying to stay connected to incarcerated loved ones.
Two private equity-backed corporations control 80% of the prison communications market through state-granted monopolies. Families have zero ability to choose a competing provider, negotiate rates, or refuse service without severing contact entirely.
One in three families goes into debt to maintain contact with an incarcerated loved one, and 87% of that financial burden falls on women — disproportionately women of color. In Georgia, a family maintaining regular contact spends $115–$135 per month in state prison, and potentially 3–4 times that in county jails.
The FCC’s historic 2024 rate caps have been gutted. The October 2025 interim rules raised maximum phone rates by 83% and added a $0.02/minute “facility cost recovery” fee that is a backdoor restoration of the commission kickback system. This reversal will cost families an additional $215 million per year nationwide.
Six states have made prison calls free — Georgia has done nothing. Connecticut, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New York have eliminated phone charges. When Massachusetts made calls free, call volume more than doubled. Georgia has not advanced a single bill despite ranking third nationally in kickback revenue.
Georgia’s county jails are even worse. Three out of four people in local jails are legally innocent, awaiting trial. Yet Glynn County charges a 69% commission rate, Chatham County charges $8 for a 20-minute video call, and Liberty County charges close to $1 for a tweet-length text message.
The “free” tablet is a trap. JPay provides tablets at no cost because the company profits from every service accessed through the device — $0.20–$0.35 per email, up to $46 per music album, $24.99/month for games. Email and messaging are explicitly excluded from FCC regulation, making tablets the new extraction frontier.
Even the company’s own CEO admits the for-profit model is wrong. Tom Gores, CEO of Platinum Equity (Securus’s owner), stated: “I think this industry really should be led probably not by private folks… but the nonprofit business, honestly.” The nonprofit Ameelio already provides free communication services in Iowa and other states.
Key Takeaway: These eight talking points cover Georgia’s financial complicity, the monopoly structure, family impact, federal regulatory rollback, state comparisons, county jail exploitation, tablet extraction, and the viable alternative model.
Important Quotes
These quotes are extracted directly from the source document. Use them in testimony, written communications, and media engagement. Each is attributed and page-referenced for credibility.
“The prison telecommunications market is not a functioning market in any meaningful economic sense. It is a system of state-granted monopolies in which a correctional facility awards a single company the exclusive right to provide communication services to its entire incarcerated population.”
— GPS Research Brief, Section II.A
“Georgia received $8,062,200.60 in commission kickbacks from prison phone revenue in fiscal year 2018–2019, making it the third-highest state in the nation for commission revenue.”
— GPS Research Brief, Section III.B
“The FCC is shielding a broken system that inflates costs and rewards kickbacks to correctional facilities at the expense of incarcerated individuals and their loved ones.”
— FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, dissenting from the October 2025 rate increase (Section IV.D)
“Today, the Commission adopts an order that gives monopoly companies facing zero competition, the authority to increase the costs for families to maintain critical connections with their loved ones in prison.”
— FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, October 2025 (Section IV.E)
“These changes are a betrayal of the families who entrusted the FCC to protect them from the notoriously predatory correctional telecom industry.”
— Bianca Tylek, Executive Director, Worth Rises (Section XIV)
“Ultimately, I think this industry really should be led probably not by private folks. I think it probably should be — I’ll get killed for saying this — but the nonprofit business, honestly.”
— Tom Gores, CEO of Platinum Equity, owner of Securus/Aventiv (Section IX.C)
“Less money for the prison industrial complex means less money for kickbacks to wardens and commissioners.”
— Zombr3x, incarcerated person in Georgia (Section XIV)
“You’re minimizing how much the prisoners can do, and you’re maximizing the profits.”
— S’hantel Butler, Army veteran and family member of incarcerated person in Georgia (Section XIV)
“E-messaging is not regulated by the FCC. The Martha Wright-Reed Act carved out e-messaging from rate regulation because it is not classified as audio or video communication. This means there is no federal limit on what companies can charge for email-like services.”
— GPS Research Brief, Section V.B
“The crackdown serves dual purposes: it addresses legitimate security concerns, but it also protects the revenue stream of the contracted telecom provider. If incarcerated people could communicate freely via smuggled cell phones, Securus’s call volume—and Georgia’s commission revenue—would decline.”
— GPS Research Brief, Section X
Key Takeaway: These quotes provide powerful, attributable language for testimony and media from FCC commissioners, industry leaders, incarcerated people, family members, and advocacy organizations.
How to Use This in Your Advocacy
Legislative Testimony
When testifying before the Georgia General Assembly or relevant committees:
- Lead with the money. Georgia collected $8,062,200.60 in prison phone kickbacks in a single year — third-highest in the nation. Ask legislators directly: where does that money go? What is it spent on? Demand transparency.
- Use the six-state comparison. Connecticut, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New York have all made calls free. New York’s program costs $9 million annually and produced a 45% increase in phone minutes in the first month. Massachusetts saw call volume more than double. Frame Georgia’s inaction as a policy choice, not a budget impossibility.
- Center the 2.7 million children. 2.7 million children nationwide have an incarcerated parent. When families can’t afford to call, children lose contact with their parents. Research consistently links family contact to reduced recidivism — this is a public safety investment.
- Name the private equity owners. Platinum Equity loaded Securus with $1.3 billion in acquisition debt that required “unjustly and unsustainably profitable” rates to service. Georgia families are paying for a leveraged buyout, not for communication services.
- Bring the county jail data. Three out of four people in Georgia’s county jails are legally innocent. Yet Glynn County charges a 69% commission rate, and Chatham County charges $8 for a 20-minute video call. This is punishment before conviction.
Public Comment
For FCC proceedings and state regulatory processes:
- Cite the $215 million cost. The October 2025 interim rules will cost families an additional $215 million per year compared to the 2024 rules. Only three states had rates above the new caps when they were adopted — proving that higher caps serve the industry, not operational needs.
- Highlight the backdoor commission restoration. The $0.02/minute “facility cost recovery” fee is a backdoor restoration of the commission system the 2024 rules banned. Call it what it is.
- Flag the e-messaging loophole. Email and messaging are excluded from FCC regulation under the Martha Wright-Reed Act. As phone and video rates are capped, companies shift extraction to unregulated services. Urge the FCC to seek authority over all prison communication modalities.
- Demand transparency on Aventiv’s ownership transfer. The FCC must approve Aventiv’s distressed debt-for-equity exchange. Use the public comment process to demand that any ownership approval include stronger consumer protections.
Media Pitches
- “Georgia’s $8 million prison phone kickback” — Georgia ranks third nationally in commission revenue. Where does the $8,062,200.60 go? This is a follow-the-money investigative pitch.
- “The county jail tax on innocence” — Three out of four people in Georgia county jails haven’t been convicted. They and their families pay 69% commission rates, $8 video calls, and $1 text messages. This is a human interest story with strong data backbone.
- “The company that nearly went bankrupt on families’ backs” — Securus/Aventiv was loaded with $1.3 billion in debt, effectively defaulted, and narrowly avoided bankruptcy — all while extracting revenue from incarcerated families. The bonds crashed to 47 cents on the dollar. Even the CEO admitted the nonprofit model would be better.
- “15,500 phones seized: what the contraband crackdown really protects” — Georgia seized 15,500+ contraband phones in 2024. Frame this as evidence of a communications system that fails to meet demand at a price families can afford, not simply a security story.
- “Six states made prison calls free — why won’t Georgia?” — National trend story with a strong Georgia angle: the state has taken no legislative action despite clear evidence the free-call model works.
Coalition Building
- Share the gendered impact data with women’s rights organizations: 87% of the financial burden falls on women, disproportionately women of color. This is a women’s economic justice issue.
- Connect with faith communities using the family separation frame: 2.7 million children have an incarcerated parent. Communication costs force families apart.
- Engage consumer protection advocates with the monopoly and private equity data: state-granted monopolies, zero consumer choice, 1,000%+ markups, and leveraged buyout debt passed to families.
- Partner with legal aid organizations on the county jail angle: legally innocent pretrial detainees face the worst exploitation. This connects to bail reform, indigent defense, and access-to-justice campaigns.
- Brief fiscal conservatives on the free-call cost data: New York’s program costs $9 million annually. Compare that to the billions spent on recidivism-driven incarceration when family bonds are severed.
Written Communications
When writing letters to officials, op-eds, or organizational communications:
- Use specific dollar amounts. A Georgia family maintaining regular contact spends $115–$135/month in state prison. A family sending $20 pays a 17.5% surcharge on the money transfer. These numbers are concrete and hard to dismiss.
- Name the corporations and their owners. Securus Technologies, owned by Aventiv Technologies, owned by Platinum Equity, controlled by billionaire Tom Gores (who also owns the Detroit Pistons). ViaPath Technologies, owned by American Securities. H.I.G. Capital owns both Keefe Group (commissary) and ICSolutions (telecom). Name them.
- Reference the Ameelio model. A working nonprofit alternative exists. Iowa deployed it across all nine state prisons. Even Securus’s owner said the industry should be run by nonprofits. This undercuts the argument that for-profit monopolies are necessary.
Key Takeaway: This research supports advocacy across five key contexts — legislative testimony, public comment, media engagement, coalition building, and written communications — with Georgia-specific data, national comparisons, and corporate accountability framing.
Use Impact Justice AI
Need to turn this research into action quickly? Impact Justice AI can help you:
- Draft legislative testimony using the Georgia-specific data and state comparisons from this brief
- Generate letters to elected officials citing the $8,062,200.60 in kickback revenue and the six-state free-call model
- Write public comments for FCC proceedings with the relevant statistics and legal framing
- Create op-eds and media pitches built on the private equity ownership trail and family impact data
- Prepare coalition briefing materials connecting prison communications to commissary exploitation, racial justice, and women’s economic security
Impact Justice AI draws on GPS research and other prisoner rights data to help advocates, family members, and organizations generate effective advocacy materials. Whether you’re a grassroots organizer preparing for a community meeting or a legal aid attorney drafting FCC comments, the tool can accelerate your work.
Visit https://impactjustice.ai to get started.
Key Takeaway: Impact Justice AI at https://impactjustice.ai helps advocates generate testimony, letters, public comments, and other materials using this research and GPS data.
Key Statistics
Industry Scale
| Statistic | Context | Source |
|---|---|---|
| $1.4 billion annual industry revenue | Total extraction from incarcerated people and their families through monopoly communications services | Section I |
| 80% market share controlled by two corporations | Securus Technologies and ViaPath Technologies dominate through state-granted monopolies | Section I, II.A |
| 3,450 correctional facilities served by Securus/Aventiv | Scale of a single corporation’s monopoly reach across all 50 states | Section I, II.B |
| 1.1 million incarcerated individuals in the captive market | Total population with zero ability to choose a competing provider | Section I |
| approximately 12 companies acquired by Securus (2012–2018) | Aggressive vertical integration across video, GPS monitoring, biometrics, messaging, and music | Section II.D |
Georgia-Specific Data
| Statistic | Context | Source |
|---|---|---|
| $8,062,200.60 in commission kickbacks | Georgia’s prison phone revenue share in FY 2018–2019 — third-highest nationally | Section I, III.B |
| $0.06/minute current state prison phone rate | All call types (local, long distance, in-state, out-of-state, international) | Section V.A |
| $0.20–$0.35 per email stamp | JPay e-messaging cost, not regulated by FCC | Section I, V.B |
| $3.50–$6.50 per money transfer | Regressive fee: $20 transfer = 17.5% surcharge; $200 transfer = 3.25% | Section I, V.C |
| $115–$135/month estimated family cost | Conservative estimate for maintaining regular contact in GDC state prison | Section VII.B |
| $45/month phone-only cost | One 25-minute call per day at $0.06/minute | Section V.A |
| 25 minutes maximum call duration | Restrictive limit requiring multiple calls for extended conversations | Section V.A |
| 46% historical commission rate | Georgia’s commission rate as of 2000 data | Section V.A |
| 15,500+ contraband phones seized in 2024 | Evidence of communications system failing to meet demand at an affordable price | Section X |
Georgia County Jails
| Statistic | Context | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 69% commission rate — Glynn County jail | Highest in coastal Georgia region; collected more than $300,000 annually from 411 average daily prisoners | Section III.B |
| 52% commission rate — Chatham County | Families pay $8 for a 20-minute video call | Section III.B |
| 50% commission rate — Liberty County | Text messages close to $1 each for tweet-length content | Section III.B |
| $0.18/minute local call rate — Glynn County | Three times the GDC state prison rate | Section V.D |
| $8 for 20-minute video call — Chatham County | $0.40/minute for video, more than 6x the state prison phone rate | Section V.D |
| 3 out of 4 people in jails are legally innocent | Awaiting trial, not convicted — making exploitative rates a punishment of innocence | Section V.D |
Family Impact
| Statistic | Context | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1 in 3 families go into debt to stay connected | Financial devastation from maintaining contact with incarcerated loved ones | Section VII.A |
| 87% of financial burden carried by women | Disproportionately women of color | Section VII.A |
| 2.7 million children have an incarcerated parent | Scale of family impact across the United States | Section VII.A |
| $500/month maximum reported family spending | Extreme cases of communication cost burden | Section VII.A |
| 17.5% effective fee on $20 money transfer | Poorest families pay highest percentage fees | Section V.C |
Private Equity and Corporate Accountability
| Statistic | Context | Source |
|---|---|---|
| $1.3 billion in acquisition debt | Loaded onto Securus/Aventiv by Platinum Equity’s 2017 leveraged buyout | Section II.B |
| 47 cents on the dollar — Aventiv bond value, March 2024 | Severe financial distress as FCC prepared rate-cutting order | Section II.B |
| $360 million loan in April 2025 restructuring | Part of distressed debt-for-equity exchange to avoid Chapter 11 bankruptcy | Section II.B |
| $1.4 billion ViaPath debt coming due starting 2025 | Second duopoly member faces parallel financial challenges | Section II.C |
| $21.3 million settlement — ViaPath/GTL | Price-fixing lawsuit settlement with Human Rights Defense Center | Section II.C |
| $3 million penalty — ViaPath/GTL | Consumer protection law violations, 2025 | Section II.C |
| approximately $460 million annual commission revenue nationwide | Total kickback system prior to FCC’s 2024 ban | Section III.B |
FCC Regulatory Rollback
| Statistic | Context | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 83% rate increase | Large prison rates raised from $0.06 to $0.11/minute under October 2025 interim rules | Section IV.E |
| $0.02/minute “facility cost recovery” fee | Backdoor restoration of banned commission system | Section IV.E |
| $215 million additional annual cost to families | Impact of October 2025 rate increase vs. 2024 rules | Section IV.E |
| $11.35 to $0.90 — projected 15-minute call reduction | What the 2024 rules would have achieved before reversal | Section IV.B |
| approximately $500 million annual savings lost | Projected family savings under 2024 rules that were gutted | Section IV.B |
| nearly 2 billion additional call minutes projected | Expected increase in family contact under 2024 rules | Section IV.B |
| 3 states with rates above new caps at adoption | Florida, Kentucky, Oklahoma — proving most facilities didn’t need higher caps | Section IV.E |
Free-Call States
| Statistic | Context | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 6 states have eliminated phone charges | CT, CA, CO, MA, MN, NY — plus New York City | Section VIII |
| More than doubled — Massachusetts call volume | After making calls free, demonstrating suppressed family contact | Section VIII |
| 45% increase in phone minutes — New York | In the first month after free calls began August 2025 | Section VIII |
| $9 million annual cost — New York’s free-call program | Cost benchmark for large-state implementation | Section VIII |
| $10 million/year saved for families — NYC | After making jail calls free in 2019 | Section VIII |
Tablet and Unregulated Extraction
| Statistic | Context | Source |
|---|---|---|
| $0.99–$9.99 per song on JPay tablets | Compare: Spotify charges $10/month for unlimited streaming | Section V.B |
| Up to $46 per album on JPay tablets | Extreme markup on entertainment content | Section V.B |
| $24.99/month for games subscription | GTL/ViaPath tablet entertainment pricing | Section VI.A |
| 1% of gross revenue to NASPO | Another entity profiting from maximizing charges to families | Section VI.C |
| 50–300% commissary markups | Compounding extraction documented in GPS’s commissary investigation | Section XI.A |
| 1,000%+ telecommunications markups | Over comparable consumer telecommunications costs | Section XI.A |
Key Takeaway: These statistics are organized by category and source-referenced for immediate use in testimony, letters, media pitches, and advocacy materials.
Read the Source Document
This investigative research brief was produced by Georgia Prisoners’ Speak (GPS) in February 2026. It documents the full prison communications extraction ecosystem, including corporate ownership chains, commission kickback structures, the FCC regulatory battle, Georgia-specific contract details and costs, the emerging tablet extraction model, and the viable nonprofit alternative.
Other Versions
This research brief is available in multiple formats tailored to different audiences:
- 📋 Public Version — Accessible overview for community members and families
- 🏛️ Legislator Version — Policy-focused brief for elected officials and staff
- 📰 Media Version — Story angles and data for journalists and editors
- 📢 Advocate Version — You’re reading it
Sources & References
- FCC allows prisons, jails to charge more for phone and video calls. Stateline (2025-11-11) Journalism
- FCC Raises Phone Rate Caps, Increasing Burden on Poor Families. Equal Justice Initiative (2025-10-31) Journalism
- Bowing to pressure from jails and companies, FCC raises phone rate caps. Prison Policy Initiative (2025-10-30) Journalism
- FCC Backtracks on 2024 Order to Cut Prison Phone and Video Rates by Half. Prison Legal News (2025-08-01) Journalism
- FCC postpones its groundbreaking 2024 rules, allowing excessive phone and video rates to continue. Prison Policy Initiative (2025-07-02) Journalism
- Platinum Equity’s Aventiv announces distressed debt exchange months after FCC regulations take effect. Private Equity Stakeholder Project (2025-06-12) Journalism
- GTL/ViaPath Ordered to Pay $3 Million for Violations of Consumer Protection Laws. Prison Legal News (2025-06-01) Journalism
- Aventiv Technologies Reaches Agreement with Key Financial Stakeholders. PR Newswire / Aventiv Technologies (2025-04-16) Press Release
- GTL, Co-Defendant Agree to $21.3 Million Settlement with HRDC in Price-Fixing Lawsuit. Prison Legal News (2025-04-01) Journalism
- Pay-for-Play Tablets: The Costly New Prison Paradigm. Prison Legal News (2025-03-01) Journalism
- First Circuit Rejects Request by Securus and Pay Tel to Stay FCC Prison Phone Rate Caps. Prison Legal News (2025-01-15) Journalism
- Platinum-Backed Aventiv Mulls Bankruptcy as Sale Date Ends. Bloomberg Law (2025-01-08) Journalism
- Facing Bankruptcy, Securus Promotes Prison Tablets. Prison Legal News (2024-11-15) Journalism
- The Prison Telecom Free-For-All is Over. Worth Rises / The Appeal (2024-11-12) Journalism
- Platinum Equity-owned prison telecom company Aventiv defaults, faces uncertain future. Private Equity Stakeholder Project (2024-04-22) Journalism
- The FCC Capped Rates on Prison Phone Calls, Here’s What Needs to Happen Next. EPIC (Electronic Privacy Information Center) (2024-01-01) Journalism
- Saying ‘I Love You’ Shouldn’t Cost A Thing. Ben & Jerry’s (2023-12-01) Journalism
- Covid’s over but county jails still profit from virtual communication. The Current (Coastal Georgia) (2023-04-14) Journalism
- Georgia Prisoners May Lose Critical Lifelines as Telecom Rates Targeted. Shadowproof (2023-02-01) Journalism
- State of Phone Justice. Prison Policy Initiative (2019-02-01) Academic
- About Us, Ameelio. Ameelio Official Report
- Ameelio homepage. Ameelio Official Report
- Aventiv portfolio page, Platinum Equity. Platinum Equity Official Report
- Contact an Offender. Georgia Department of Corrections Official Report
- Georgia State Prison phone rates and kickbacks. Prison Phone Justice Data Portal
- UCC Media Justice Guide to the FCC’s New Rules on Prison Phone & Video Rates. UCC Media Justice Ministry Official Report