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In Operator Services at Bellsouth, years ago, seventy per cent of our call volume were prison/inmate calls. When an inmate would call in, a screen code would appear showing it as such. These inmates were only allowed to call collect, whether it was a local or long distance call. They were under no circumstances allowed to be connected to another phone company, have operator assistance on dialing calls, make calls on calling cards or billed to special numbers, etc. Collect and dialed on their own was the only way to go. Now, you may wonder why this is the case. Long before this policy, inmates were allowed to bill calls to calling cards.....right up until it turned out all the inmates had the same calling card numbers!
As you all may know, not everything is foolproof. There were times that these calls would come in, and no screen code would appear showing it was an inmate calling. After a while, I practically knew each and every one of these inmates being the same ones called in every day. Some operators were not that smart, though, and would actually leak it to the inmate that the phone did not show a prison. The moment the inmate heard this, they would call and make the attempt to bill it to another number or to a calling card (most likely stolen). What was nice about this though is even though the screen code did not appear, the inmate still had to dial the number themselves before being routed to the operator.
Of course, it didn't end there. Later on, the phone companies came out with a three way calling detector for inmate calls. When an inmate called another person, that person would then do a three way call, bypassing any additional charges to a local number. This feature came out to where if a person made a three way call, the call would automatically disconnect. Of course, the increase in calls with "I was cut off and want a credit" came about. This also was invented due to inmates conducting fraudulent business practices while behind bars. I'm not sure how they do it, but they can somehow still steal credit card information and other personal things thanks to their friends with the freedom on the outside.
With collect being the only way to call, much of the time the person at the other end could refuse the call. Some of these people would attempt to quickly pass a message to one another, to which I would bill the call if that happened. You also as an operator had to pay close attention to the call. Sometimes when the person at the other end answered, the inmates would speak over that person, pretending to be the called party. I remember one, not sure if it was a man or woman being the inmate could do either voice, would say "We'll take it, we'll take it!" She would tell me "collect call from Chris" in a woman's voice, then would start speaking in a man's voice that they'll accept the call and say "OK, hold on Chris". Yet, what was funny is when I put "Chris" on hold, suddenly the man's voice accepting the call wasn't there!
Nowadays, from what I have heard, inmate calls are all automated with no operator assistance allowed, which pretty much explains why I moved on from that job. They don't need as many bodies for that anymore. I'm not sure if it stops inmates from committing fraud behind bars, but I'm sure it at least makes their task more difficult than before.
As you all may know, not everything is foolproof. There were times that these calls would come in, and no screen code would appear showing it was an inmate calling. After a while, I practically knew each and every one of these inmates being the same ones called in every day. Some operators were not that smart, though, and would actually leak it to the inmate that the phone did not show a prison. The moment the inmate heard this, they would call and make the attempt to bill it to another number or to a calling card (most likely stolen). What was nice about this though is even though the screen code did not appear, the inmate still had to dial the number themselves before being routed to the operator.
Of course, it didn't end there. Later on, the phone companies came out with a three way calling detector for inmate calls. When an inmate called another person, that person would then do a three way call, bypassing any additional charges to a local number. This feature came out to where if a person made a three way call, the call would automatically disconnect. Of course, the increase in calls with "I was cut off and want a credit" came about. This also was invented due to inmates conducting fraudulent business practices while behind bars. I'm not sure how they do it, but they can somehow still steal credit card information and other personal things thanks to their friends with the freedom on the outside.
With collect being the only way to call, much of the time the person at the other end could refuse the call. Some of these people would attempt to quickly pass a message to one another, to which I would bill the call if that happened. You also as an operator had to pay close attention to the call. Sometimes when the person at the other end answered, the inmates would speak over that person, pretending to be the called party. I remember one, not sure if it was a man or woman being the inmate could do either voice, would say "We'll take it, we'll take it!" She would tell me "collect call from Chris" in a woman's voice, then would start speaking in a man's voice that they'll accept the call and say "OK, hold on Chris". Yet, what was funny is when I put "Chris" on hold, suddenly the man's voice accepting the call wasn't there!
Nowadays, from what I have heard, inmate calls are all automated with no operator assistance allowed, which pretty much explains why I moved on from that job. They don't need as many bodies for that anymore. I'm not sure if it stops inmates from committing fraud behind bars, but I'm sure it at least makes their task more difficult than before.
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