On November 23rd, the media outlet BuzzFeed published a story that included some misleading assertions about Securus. We appreciate BuzzFeed updating its story to include our statement. Unfortunately, the publication declined to make further edits to clarify and correct the piece, which does not accurately reflect the company we are today.
Under its current leadership, Securus has been driving a transformation in the correctional communications industry, making it easier and more affordable for incarcerated individuals to stay in contact with loved ones and prepare for successful reentry. We have reduced the average cost of our calls to less than 15 cents per minute before recent regulatory changes and are working to make them even lower. We are the first company to introduce subscription calling plans, further reducing costs while increasing talk time.
We know there is more work to do. But the article in question cites out of date pricing, including outlier contracts that have since been renegotiated. And it misleads readers to think all of the screenshots of social media customer complaints are about Securus, when only one image is for a Securus product. This leaves readers to inaccurately assume we are responsible for the issues cited when the data displayed is from another provider. We do not bill per minute usage for the tablets and we do not bill for 600 characters.
We welcome constructive feedback, and expect to be held accountable when we fall short of our commitment to positive change. But we also expect an honest and fair accounting of our services and their costs, and we believe it was important to set the record straight on this matter.