Letter to Denver Post
March 8, 2023
Dear Editor
Your front page report on proposed legislation, “Prison phone calls on the docket”, appears to be a reasonable attempt to limit corporate overreach for those incarcerated in the State’s prisons. It is unfortunate, but no surprise that local municipalities will still get to make up their own rules on the issue.
It should be looked at in the Federal prison system as well.
It should also be pointed out that staff in many agencies give the inmates free phone calls at their discretion. There are a lot of efforts within correctional institutions and the law enforcement community to help offenders, but that fact seems to have vanished in the dense haze of politics and the necessity for some sensible reforms.
There is nothing sensible about efforts to “abolish prisons” or to “defund the Police”.
I think the bigger concern is how corporate influence impacts society as a whole by fueling economic inequality with record profits in major industries like pharmaceutical, banking, energy, real estate and grocery retail for all citizens.
Wages have not kept pace with inflation or profit levels, and the matter of employment rights has been reduced to “special interest” status.
There has been some Federal legislation addressing corporate gouging, but it often fails. It seems the two-party system has long been subordinated to corporate power.
Tim Allport
Arvada