BALTIMORE, March 10, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ --Smart Communications Aims to Disrupt Inmate Communications Practices that Inflate Costs, Deny Taxpayer Savings
Established in 2009 with the aim of providing industry-disrupting communication technologies and services to correctional facilities nationwide, Smart Communications is vigorously pursuing a civil suit in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania against Global Tel*Link Corporation (GTL) and York County, Pennsylvania for allegedly violating the Sherman Antitrust Act and state unfair competition law, among other claims (Case 1:21-cv-01708-JPW). Smart Communications' antitrust action against GTL is consistent with its ongoing efforts to end such anticompetitive practices and to reduce the inflated fees typically charged to inmates and their families for basic inmate communication services.
"We established Smart Communications to disrupt the ICS space through new technology offerings and by reducing the exorbitant fees that burden inmates and their families merely to stay in touch," said Smart Communications founder and CEO Jon Logan. "Resistance to innovation in favor of the status quo only hurts inmates, their families and taxpayers."
The legal action initiated by Smart Communications in the Pennsylvania District Court follows the decision of York County Prison and its warden to renew the county's ICS contract with GTL—which dates to October 2003—despite Smart Communications putting forth an alternative contract that offered the potential to significantly lower costs to York County Prison and its inmates. According to court documents, Smart Communications' proposal would have paid York County $2 million in annual commissions, twice the commission offered by GTL.
Smart Communications alleges in court documents that York County's exclusive dealing arrangement with GTL has significant anticompetitive effects that are not counterbalanced by any pro-competitive benefits. Inmates and call recipients are forced to pay rates for Inmate Calling Services (ICS) that far exceed the rates that they would pay in a competitive market.
Smart Communications' suit additionally alleges that GTL maliciously interfered with the prospective contract between Smart Communications and York County by falsely representing to York County a number of scurrilous claims and misleading assertions in order to preserve its long-standing position as the incumbent ICS provider.
ABOUT SMART COMMUNICATIONS
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: http://www.smartcommunications.us
Media Contact
Greg Tucker, The Tucker Group, 1 4106249536, [email protected]
SOURCE SMART COMMUNICATIONS
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