Great post. I know far too well the effects of “reverse competition” on the families of incarcerated individuals. Not being able to call and tell your daughter “Good Job” on her most recent report card, or discuss with your son the consequences of your actions that led to incarceration, are just a few moments that rarely occur due to exorbitant telephone rates for prisoner phone calls. Bi-partisan research supports the fact that the more connected an inmate is to his or her family, the less likely he or she will reoffend upon return to society. While both sides of the political aisle get the key factors to successful reentry, neither has until recently, been willing to tackle the crux of the ‘disconnected from society’ issue. This is one of the reasons I started Pigeonly - we saw a problem technology and a little bit of creative thinking could help solve.
In Q4 alone our Telepigeon product has provided over 4.5MM low cost phone minutes saving inmates and their family members over $750K in phone cost, that’s real money we've been able to put back into people's pockets.