Harlem delays move to put phones in jail

Council members want another month to consider location and design, go over details of BellSouth contract

Web posted December 15, 1998

By Jason B. Smith
Columbia County Bureau

The Harlem City Council will wait another month before deciding whether to install telephones in the city's jail.

City council members, who first discussed a proposed contract with BellSouth last month, still have questions about phone locations and design.

Under terms of the contract, the company would supply and install the phones at no charge and pay the city 25 percent of all money made from inmate calls.

The phones require inmates to make collect calls.

``I think the 25 percent is a good bit low,'' said City Attorney Thomas Burnside III, who's been studying the contract since November. ``I think you can get more out of them.''

He questioned allowing BellSouth to choose the long distance carrier as is outlined in the contract.

``I don't know if that's a control y'all want to give them or not,'' Mr. Burnside said.

The phones are a safety consideration for police dispatchers on duty, Police Chief Willard Askew said.

In the past, the dispatcher on duty would have to take a phone into the jail for prisoners to use.

But this led to phone abuse. Now prisoners are limited to one five-minute call per day.

``It's not a vacation spot down there,'' Chief Askew said. ``They didn't win a free trip to jail.''

Mayor Shirley Tankersley said she vehemently opposes the phones.

``They can make one telephone call when they come to jail and that's it,'' she said.

But it's not that simple, Chief Askew said.

``If we want to get them out of the jail, we've got to let them call a bondsman,'' he said.

``That's their one call,'' Mrs. Tankersley said. ``We're not running a hotel down there.''

Jason B. Smith covers government for The Augusta Chronicle. He can be reached at (706) 868-1222, Ext. 115, or jbsmith@augustachronicle.com.