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Ontario prisoners are charged exorbitant prices for phone calls by Bell Canada, according to a class action lawsuit.
Lead plaintiffs Vanessa Fareau and Ransome Capay claim that those who are incarcerated in Ontario are forced to use a service provided by Bell Canada to make phone calls. Allegedly, the system charges more than $30 a call and phone calls are limited to under 20 minutes each.
Fareau claims that she has experienced both sides of the exorbitant costs charged by Bell Canada to make phone calls while incarcerated. She says that while she was incarcerated in the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Center in 2015 she would regularly spend at least $20 a day on collect calls to friends and family. The calls were necessary to arrange care for her two young children and bail.
Now, she says she regularly pays hundreds of dollars each month to Bell Canada to pay for collect calls from her nephew who is incarcerated in the same facility.
Capay says that she paid for collect calls from her son who was held in pretrial confinement for more than four years at the Thunder Bay Correctional Jail and Kenora Jail. She says the fees forced her to take on extra work, but she had to accept the calls to maintain basic contact with her son while he was kept in solitary confinement.
The plaintiffs allege that the excessive fees charged by Bell Canada violate consumer protection laws and the rights of both the prisoners and those who accept their calls and are forced to pay the fees.
The plaintiffs want to represent both incarcerated people serving their sentences who were forced to make calls through Bell Canada’s Offender Telephone Management System, as well as those who accepted and paid for collect calls from people incarcerated in Ontario. Each Class consists of those who made or received these calls starting June 1, 2013.
In February of 2020, a similar class action lawsuit was filed against Bell Canada. That lawsuit sought more than $10 million in damages.
Have you been hit with exorbitant fees for calls from an incarcerated loved one? Do you think Bell Canada should lower the cost of prisoner phone calls? Tell us in the comment section below!
The plaintiffs are represented by Jody Brown, Kirsten Mercer, and Geetha Philipupillai of Goldblatt Partners LLP.
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8 thoughts onBell Canada Charges Prisoners More Than $30 for 20 Min or Shorter Calls, Claims Class Action Lawsuit
This is what you call Prison Industrial Complex. Companies and members of the upper-class benefitting from prisoners who work hard to earn the amount that they do inside the prisons.
Ridiculous costs for speaking to a loved one who’s incarcerated.
Where do i sign?
Hi my son was incarcerated for two and a half years and for that whole time myself and my mom and my daughter-in-law all use the belt for the prisoners we are all overcharged it was absolutely ridiculous I still have my bills I still have my records of the bills Bell Canada took full advantage of people that just want to talk to loved ones that were incarcerated there was dropped calls it was many rebuildings there was when you called them and asked him what happened there’s nothing they do they charge over charges I have many of those that I can still prove with my listings that I do still have it’s absolutely ridiculous I can’t even tell you it was paying over $100 a week sometimes my daughter-in-law’s customer $500 and two three weeks and calls it was absolutely ridiculous please include me in your class action suit and I can provide the documents if required thank you
Sin me up
I was in emdc and TSDC in-between 2017 to 2024 multiple times I couldn’t afford to talk to family and if I did it cost a fortune.
Sign me up I have done time off and on from 2009-2020 making a phone call to my family while I was in the d.s wasn’t that cheap but I was able to call home. After I was sentenced and shipped away to a c.c I could only call home if I requested to make a call through the social workers (the jails) land line making a collect call out side my jurisdiction would brake the bank.. So the mental stress and they financial loss left me miles away with no way to know how my family was and vise versa, highway robbery
I did about 3 years in total segregation from 2000-2020 and about 240 days straight on one occassion. I need a lawyer who can get me the most compensation .
How do I join some of these lawsuits that have affected me such as this Bell collect calls, ogx, and a few others?