Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores purchased Securus last year, which him in a position to profit from an unjust and broken prison industry. His company’s current move to merge with a smaller competitor could significantly expand the exploitation.

As a quasi-occasional writer here at DBB, I can generally be counted upon to offer up no more than a couple of extended articles a year. Looking back at my work, most have been fairly inconsequential and are easily forgotten, even by the author. (I honestly had no memory at all of writing a few that I, evidently, put a couple of hours into.)

There is one, however, that came directly from my heart and soul and that deals with a subject that goes far beyond the world of the NBA, exposing an issue that is a part of what I consider to be the greatest national scandal currently afflicting our country. (And I gotta say—the competition for that title these days is fierce.)

A Quick Refresher

To summarize the issue at stake, Tom Gores’ Platinum Equities spent $1.6 billion dollars last year to purchase Securus Technologies, a company whose business model was centered upon charging exorbitant amounts of money (as much as $22 for a 15 minute call) for prisoners and their families to communicate by phone. In the article, I laid out much more detail about the operation and about the horrors of mass incarceration in the United States today. Throughout the article—which took far more than the above-mentioned "couple of hours" to research and write—there are links that more fully detail the US prison industry scandal and Tom Gores’/Securus’ role in it.

The New Major Development

Securus is now asking the FCC to approve a merger with current rival ICSolutions. The Wright Petitioners and Prison Policy Initiative (PPI) are trying to stop this proposed merger, for as any free marketer will tell you, removing competition from an industry generally leads to higher prices and fewer options for consumers. It must be emphasized that this is a Platinum Equities move; there’s no room for mealy-mouthed, "Well, that was the *old* Securus Technologies…" rationalizations.

It’s time to look at some data.

Crunch the numbers above, courtesy of Peter Wagner of PPI, and you’ll see that 15 minute phone calls from county jails with ICS contracts average $3.33, while those from facilities with Securus contracts average $15.72, some of the highest rates in the nation.

Adding insult to injury, the first minute on many of these calls is more than $5, so the typical call that goes "Ring. Hi, is Mom home? No, call back later" is 30 seconds and $5. And remember, these rates apply to both serious criminals and to victims of wrongful arrest. A 2012 PPI report (40% Not Convicted) indicated that roughly 40 percent of the nearly three-quarters of a million people in local jails had not been convicted of a crime. Many, of course, were later convicted, but many others were not.

The NBA is famously the professional sports league of social justice. What is socially just about charging a person, likely to be poor, likely to be a minority, $15 that they don't have to make a phone call because of being incarcerated for a minor crime or perhaps even a crime they didn't commit?

And while I don’t think that I’m in a position to assess the ethics of Securus’ competitors—and I remain inherently suspicious of companies created to profit off of the mass incarceration industry—it is worth noting that in the State of Texas, a new contract was signed with Century Link that has almost instantly dropped phone call rates from 26 cents per minute to 6 cents per minute. Texas Reduces Jail Phone So clearly, the exorbitant rates that Securus charges are a conscious (surely profit-driven) choice and not a business necessity. I would love to be informed differently, but at this point I am unaware of any similar such move from Tom Gores’ Securus Technologies.

Further Follow Up from a Year Ago

In November of last year, Gores and Platinum Equity officially obtained control of Securus Technologies. Since the date of purchase, Securus has been in the news quite a bit and not in ways that reflect well upon Mr. Gores, Platinum, or Securus.

Securus continues to be a major lobbyist in the move to replace in-person visits to incarcerated people with internet video visitation, which would often present a new business opportunity for…Securus Technologies (Video Visits Replacing Face-to-Face).

Now, one could argue—as Securus does—that these video visitations could be a beneficial supplement to more cumbersome in-person visitations, but to precisely no one’s surprise, jails and prisons are using the advent of this technology to ban in-person visitation at jails (Ending Face-to-Face Visits). While this was prior to Platinum Equity’s acquisition of Securus, the company actively advocated for the end of face-to-face visitations, even *requiring* that prisons ban in-person visits as a contractual requirement of utilizing Securus’ services. As the Prison Policy Initiative notes, "While many of Securus's competitors have worked with sheriffs to replace in-person, Securus was the only video visitation company that dictated correctional visitation policy in the contract" (Only Securus).

Yes, this is the type of "business opportunity" that Tom Goes and Securus has decided to invest in. (Have a Mushroom-sized attention span?—these four comedic video last about a minute each and lay out what’s wrong with all of this: Ending Face-to-Face (Humorous Take).

To summarize, Tom Gores' private equity firm has a financial stake in overcharging largely poor, largely minority groups in jails for the privilege of using the telephone, and is actively lobbying lawmakers in efforts to increase the use of (expensive) video conferencing even at the expense of allowing in-person visits.

Meeting in person matters

There is substantial research indicating the importance of eye contact on the formation of relationships, and as jail cameras are fixed and often fixed away from the screen, eye contact is difficult to maintain. Note how much more you feel connected to the image on the right and then extrapolate this to what you’d feel as part of a face-to-face visit.

Big Brother meets Big Data

In May, the New York Times uncovered a scandalous story that should infuriate even those who aren’t particularly concerned about the rights or standards of living of prisoners and their families. Slate’s Will Oremus reports, "But the New York Times reported earlier this month that a company called Securus Technologies was offering a service that allowed users to track people’s whereabouts in real time, using data obtained from the wireless companies through a pair of intermediaries. The Times reported that a Missouri sheriff had been using the service to keep tabs on 11 people, including fellow officers and a judge, without their knowledge and without a warrant. He’s now facing state and federal charges." Securus as Civil Liberties Demon

Securus also has a long history of actively misleading the public about the rates that it charges, and I’ve found no evidence that this practice has been curtailed in any way since Platinum Equity gained control of the company. In a July 2017 filing with the FCC, through which Securus gained federal approval for the acquisition, Securus claimed that its average rate for prisoner phone calls averaged 18 cen ts per minute. In fact, lawyers discovered that the data "pulled directly from the Securus rate calculator reflects that no inmate in Michigan would be able to call the Palace of Auburn Hills for $.184 per minute under any Securus calling plan. The least expensive call would be from the Wayne County facilities, and that rate is $0.50 per minute." Securus's Deception about Rates

So…Why Does This Matter?

In terms of why it matters, the obvious point is this—Tom Gores has invested in one of the more unethical and exploitative companies in one of the more unethical and exploitative industries, and he seems poised to make matters worse if the Securus-ICS merger is allowed to go through.

A guy worth $3 billion dollars is aiming to increase his wealth on the backs of kids who don’t want to lose their relationship with their jailed parents. (As noted in the previous article, roughly 10 percent of Michigan children have an imprisoned parent).

This just sucks.

Making it all the more galling, are Gores’ very public attempts to hold himself up as a caring pillar of society, with his water- and scholarship-distribution media events, and borderline grotesque pronouncements from his mouthpieces, such as

"It's really Tom's idea that [the Pistons] are a great platform, they're a community asset and, with that, requires us to be socially responsible...It's about inspiring our youth, unifying our community, and improving the lives of others"--Arn Tellum, vice chairman of Palace Sports & Entertainment (owned by Platinum Equity) Hipocrisy (with a capital H)

Tom Gores wants our praise for distributing water, but refuses to own up to quietly profiting off of some of the very poor families who he ensures, very publicly, receives his water. And I just hate hypocrisy, especially self-serving hypocrisy, and really especially self-serving hypocrisy from multi-billionaires.

Beyond the ethical concerns, Gores (and Pistons’ fans) need to be very concerned about the viability of the franchise in Detroit right now. Despite the shiny new arena, the Pistons finished safely in the bottom half in terms of average attendance (and that’s assuming that we willfully choose to do what the team has done and view the conspicuous rows of empty red seats as "shiny, happy, people") and 29th in terms of percentage of seats filled for home games. The team hasn’t won a playoff game since George W. Bush was president and is widely pegged to struggle to 40 wins and a 7th or 8th seed this year. Suffice to say, the franchise lacks "buzz" and while the rest of the NBA yawns, Pistons’ fans aren’t collectively showing much enthusiasm for Mr. Gores’ product. To a large degree, winning would take care of this—a 50-win season and a third seed would draw people to the LCA.

But while I’m not anticipating a widespread boycott of the Pistons on account of Gores’ shady business dealings (personally, I would not consider purchasing a Pistons’ ticket or anything else that supports Platinum Equities under these circumstances, but seeing as I live in South America, this isn’t a particularly existential threat), I do think it realistic that the longer this Securus racket continues to operate as it does, the more Gores’ greed and lack of concern for vulnerable members of our communities is publicized, the more a general stink begins to cling to the Detroit Pistons. No, not many of us will actively boycott the Pistons. But how many people turned off by the inferior product of the past decade will even unconsciously factor in Securus Technologies in their general assessment of the appeal of the franchise? I suspect this could have a further unpleasant impact upon the Detroit Pistons franchise.

So...What Should We Do?

In the admittedly non-scientific poll at the end of my piece from a year ago, about 75% of the close to 200 who responded confirmed that they "hate and disapprove" of Gores’ behavior in regards to Securus and how it reflects upon our Detroit Pistons. So, we have reason to believe that the more this problem is publicized, the more pressure Tom Gores will receive.

So, we do have some reach here, people. Assuming that Tom Gores cares about his public image (which he certainly does), assuming that Tom Gores cares about the Detroit Pistons (which he likely does), assuming that Tom Gores has ethical qualities and can be convinced that he doesn’t need to profit off of the children of prisoners (which I hope to be true, but it’s hard to find evidence in any direction), we have some reach. The louder and more consistent the voices of disgust are raised, the more pressure he receives. Short of a boycott (which I’m not proposing as I’m aware that there is simply nothing approaching the critical mass of potential participants needed for a boycott to make any sort of impact), here are some ideas:

Write to Tom Gores Directly and encourage friends, family members, and fellow basketball fans to do so as well. Eight disgruntled fans won’t cross Tom Gores’ radar; three hundred might. Ask him to personally commit to reforming Securus’ business practices.

Going to a game or live close to the LCA? Print out some informational flyers and inform the crowd. Seriously. I know it’s difficult to find the time, the energy, the confidence to engage people like this. But if not you, then who? (Need some help with info or graphics? I’ll put you in touch with the right people.)

Write to state representatives, demanding the state cap the cost of calling home from prisons and jails. The second section on the first page of this briefing has the general outline of what the legislature needs to do: What Your Legislators Should Do

Write to members of Congress to support the Inmate Calling Technical Corrections Act to encourage the FCC to regulate in-state phone calls from prisons and jails. What Congress Should Do

Write a letter to local media—the Detroit News/Free Press—expressing your distaste for Tom Gores’ and Platinum Industries’ dalliance with profiting off of the prison industry

Stay informed. The Prison Policy Initiative (Prison Policy Initiative) is one of many advocacy groups that is fighting the good fight.

Vote. And get others to vote. Support candidates who call for significant prison reform. Something is very wrong in the United States if we continue at our current pace of 10.6 million arrests per year (check out this flabbergasting and horrifying visual of what this looks like:You Will Simply Not Believe This), and if we continue to incarcerate a higher *percentage* of our population than any other country. Elected officials who are committed to changing this state of affairs would be a major step in the right direction.

Don’t get tired of this issue. "Power concedes nothing without [determined] command," Frederick Douglass long ago reminded us.

And…If We Are Drinking the Kool-Aid, What Should Tom Gores Do?

What could Tom Gores do to justify us spending long hours—in the hot, not sun, maybe even with swarms of mosquitoes nipping at our ankles—lining up at the Kool-Aid stand? In the world that Voltaire’s Pangloss happily extolled, Tom Gores calls a press conference, acknowledge Securus’ long history of deceit and exploitation and announces that he has instructed all Securus contracts to be immediately renegotiated to bring maximum value to the families of prisoners and their incarcerated loved ones, and further commits to using his vast financial resources to promoting justice and true efforts toward humanity and rehabilitation in our prison system.

That is what I believe in. That is the Kool-Aide I want to be drinking.

Of course, this press conference is not on the horizon.

However, I do believe that public pressure can work, and with continued heat and fear of further exposure, it is possible to move Tom Gores, Platinum Equities, and Securus somewhere along that path.

In the interim, the folks at Prison Policy Initiative have suggested a very modest opening salvo of good faith from Tom Gores. They are asking him to personally commit to not raising the (substantially more reasonable rates at the ICS-served jails in Michigan if the requested merger is allowed to go through. This is not a final step and it doesn’t solve Tom Gores’ massive ethical and public relations problems related to Securus Technologies. But it would be a start and would make a tangible difference for our fellow citizens—among them parents, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, valued friends, and above all human beings—who find themselves in jail.

[Writer's note: I deleted the poll. There were 42 "Securus is fine!" responses in a little over an hour, more than that position received in a couple of weeks of debate last September. There was one comment supporting Gores on this. It's pretty clear that there is a bot or a "motivated" poster at work here.]

Agree with me or not? Discuss below.