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A newly lodged Bell Canada prison calls class action lawsuit claims the phone company charged excessive fees for calls in and out of prisons.
According to the lead plaintiff, and Ontario resident represented by Sotos Class Actions, Bell Canada is the sole provider of telephone services in correctional facilities in the province. The Bell prison calls class action lawsuit alleges that since 2013 the company has been charging “unconscionable telephone service rates” for incoming and outgoing calls to the correctional facilities.
The plaintiff says that he was incarcerated in several Ontario correctional facilities and that his family could not afford to receive calls from him due to the fees charged by Bell Canada. In addition, his access to legal services were also limited by Bell’s phone fees.
“Taking advantage of its exclusive control over the [Offender Telephone Management System], Bell gave Ontario Prisoners one option, and one option only: place collect calls to landlines at exorbitant and improvident prices extracted from anyone who had to accept the calls,” alleges the Bell prison calls class action.
The plaintiff further claims that Bell Canada falsely represented its rates to those who called from Ontario correctional facilities. The class action lawsuit alleges that Bell represented to incarcerated people and their families that call rates would be no higher than regular residential rates. However, according to the complaint, one 20-minute call could cost over $30. Calls out of the facilities are allegedly required to be collect calls, so prisoners’ families and loved ones are often stuck with the bill.
“Making prisoners’ phone calls to the outside world prohibitively expensive puts a financial and emotional strain on the prisoners and their families,” stated the lawyer for the plaintiff, according to Cision. “It is grossly unfair because it isolates prisoners, inhibits rehabilitation and contributes to anxiety and depression. Bell Canada’s commitment to promoting awareness of mental health issues rings hollow in light of this practice”
According to the class action lawsuit, mental illness rates for those in correctional facilities is much higher than suffered by members of the general population. The high rate of mental illness makes communication with friends and family members of vital importance to incarcerated people.
The Bell Canada prisoner calls class action lawsuit seeks to represent current and former incarcerated people who made collect calls from an Ontario correctional facility, as well as the people who accepted and paid for those calls.
The plaintiff is seeking compensation for the allegedly exorbitant call rates charged by Bell Canada, including $1.52 million in general and statutory damages and $10 million in punitive, exemplary, and aggravated damages.
The proposed Bell Canada prisoner calls class action lawsuit was filed on Feb. 5, 2020 and will need to be certified by the court to proceed.
Did you make or accept a collect call from an Ontario correctional facility? Did you find the charges excessive? Tell us your story in the comments below.
The plaintiff and proposed Class are represented by Mohsen Seddigh and Tassia K. Poynter of Sotos LLP.
The Bell Canada Prison Calls Class Action Lawsuit is John Doe v. Bell Canada, Case No. CV-20-00635778-00CP, in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Canada.
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20 thoughts onBell Canada Faces Class Action Over ‘Exorbitant’ Fees for Prison Calls
I had bell canada and trapline and they used third party billing leaving me with a bill over 4000$. They has to be laws against this. How is this not robbery?
Hello everyone my name is Mark George I was incarcerated for 3 years and 6 months from the time you walk in the jail and from the time you walk out you have to pay for the phone services so you paid for the maintenance on the weather you use the phone or not and there’s a lot of people that don’t use the phone and it’s very rare that you see them fixing the phone or any maintenance on it and then when there is something wrong with the phone it does not get fixed for a long time in which we the inmates pay for it
Yes please add me to your class action suit I have received collect calls for just over two years and I complained a number of times that I wasn’t getting the time (20mins) that calls were cut short and being charged for dropped calls nothing was done about this and if you wanted to talk to a Loved one unfortunately bell was your only choice even though you knew that they were ripping you off you didn’t have a choice it was the only way to communicate with your loved one who were incarcerated it was there only link to family so you paid the fees put up with all the cut short calls and dropped calls because really you didn’t have any other way of communicating so you excepted the collect calls and I believe that Bell knew this and didn’t care because they knew that people are going to use them do they never bothered to fix anything they just took your money and sometimes they provide a service and sometimes they didn’t give you what you are paying for but to them it doesn’t matter I have a record of all the dropped calls all the shortened calls and all the fund’s that you don’t get credit for even though you put money on your account so you can get collect calls thank you so much please add me to your class action suit
Add me to
I served 4 years in federel prision every month i bad to put 250 .00 to phone home it was my lifesavings and now its bell canadas over 12000.00 in phone bills i suffer from mental health and was kept in segergation for most my stay there the phone was my life line my only hope it sure would be nice to no that inmates could call home without having to give up everything thay have or dont have