Pasted in below after my signature block is the information regarding
prison-based telemarketing that I distributed on Friday June 7, 2002.  I
want to make sure that this gets included in the comments. It does not
include the letter from then Governor George Bush to April Jordan.  I have
also attached the information as a Word Perfect 8 file.

I also want to relay something that was forwarded to me today, June 12,
2002, in the verbiage of the original writer:

"The local Colorado TV stations are running little message banners on them
that say residents near the big Hayman fire SW of Denver should be
prepared for reverse 911 calls (meaning the police will call you with a
prerecorded message to tell you to evacuate).

Then the TV banner message says that telephone subscribers should be sure
to turn off call blocking.

So there you have it.  An example of how you can lose your life simply
trying to protect yourself from telemarketers."

Thank you again for the opportunity for input, and for the invitation to be
part of the panel on June 7.  I hope my input was useful for the FTC.

Michael C. Worsham, Esq.

NOTE: Nothing in this message should be construed as legal advice or the
creation of an attorney-client relationship.

                         June 7, 2002

PRISON-BASED TELEMARKETING:  *Adding Insult to Injury*

This short paper points out why the FTC should eliminate all prison-based
telemarketing (PBT):

• Job-training to reduce prisoner recidivism is an admirable goal,
  but even without considering the issue of prisoner access to personal information,
  prison-based telemarketing defeats the idea of prison sentences to isolate
  incarcerated criminals from society.  PBT not only requires interaction of criminals with private citizens, but also requires that interaction to occur in their private residence.  Most
  objectionable of all, is that outbound telemarketing calls an uninvited and unwanted
  interaction, per se.
• Personal information has been abused in PBT programs many times.
  April Jordan*s daughter was solicited by a prisoner calling from Utah.  The prisoner
  later sold personal information he coaxed out of the daughter to another prisoner who used
  it to write the daughter a letter.  Her family is still concerned about what will
  happen when these prisoners are eventually released.  This and a similar incident helped
  lead Utah to terminate its PBT program on August 31, 2000.  The Washington state
  prison telemarketing operation was also shut down for similar abuses.
• President Bush Opposes Prisoner Access to Personal Information.
  As Governor of Texas, George Bush wrote in 2000 that *Inmates should not have access
  to personal data about individuals,* and he phased out jobs allowing Texas inmates
  access to personal information. (Source: May 25, 2000 letter from Governor George Bush to
  April Jordan).
• Congress*s General Accounting Office (GAO) found that as of Sep.
  1998, of about 1.2 million inmates, approximately 1,400 inmates in Bureau of Prison and 19
  state prison systems had access to personal information through correctional
  industry work programs.  (Source: GAO/GGD-99-146, Inmates* Access to Personal Information, August 1999).
• Public opposition to Prison-based Telemarketing is very strong.
  In April 2002 Colorado legislators, including the bill*s original House sponsor,
  killed a proposal to allow PBT for magazine subscriptions after outraged Colorado citizens
  called the governor*s office.  (Source: Denver Post, Arthur Kane, *Complaints
  Torpedo prison telemarketing,* April 11, 2002).
• Prisoner recidivism is rising.  In June 2002, the U.S. Dept. of
  Justice released the first major study of recidivism in over a decade. The report examined 272,111 former inmates in 15 states during the first three years after their release.  The
  report found that 67% of inmates released from state prisons in 1994 committed at least one
  serious new crime within three years, a 5% increase over inmates released in 1983.  Do we
  want a criminal to telemarket a residence when that criminal is more than likely to
  commit another crime?
• Identity Theft is Rising.  The GAO reported in Feb. 2002 that the
  FTC Clearinghouse responded to an average of 445 calls per week in Nov. 1999.  By March
  2001 the average was 2,000 calls/week, and by Dec. 2001, the weekly avg. was about
  3,000.
• The GAO wrote: *Identity theft can cause substantial harm to the
  lives of individual citizens - potentially severe emotional or other non-monetary harm, as
  well as economic harm.  Even though financial institutions may not hold victims liable
  for fraudulent debts, victims nonetheless often feel *personally violated* and have reported
  spending significant amounts of time trying to resolve the problems caused by
  identity theft - problems such as bounced checks, loan denials, credit card application
  rejections, and debt collection harassment,* GAO-02-424T, Identity Theft: Available
  Data Indicate Growth in Prevalence & Cost (www.gao.gov/new.itmes/d0242t.pdf).
• Prison-Based Telemarketing is a breeding ground for Identity
  Theft.  Even if prisoners are prevented from having personal information, and are
  subject to monitoring and other restrictions (like not being allowed to take notes), as soon
  as they get out of prison, they can immediately get a telemarketing job which will not
  have these restrictions.  And even in PBT programs with close monitoring, taping
  of inmate calls, selective hiring, security checks at the exits, the abuses still
  occurred.   Prisoners now discuss ID theft in prisons as a less risky and less dangerous
  alternative to other crimes.  (Source: a national privacy expert speaking to attorneys in June 2002).
• There are many better jobs for prisoners besides telemarketing.
  Telemarketing is not just reviled by an overwhelming majority of the public, but is a job
  defined by repeated and often nasty rejection, not exactly the kind of confidence and
  esteem-building work prisoners need.  Besides telemarketing, Utah prisoners* work included
  well-paying technically complex jobs, clothing manufacturing, copying historical
  files, and computer repair. (Prison Legal News, December 2001, Roger Hummel, *Telemarketing and Computer Programs Crash at Utah Prison,* page 1).  The GAO*s 1999
  report (p. 3) distinguished manufacture of license plates, wood products and
  textiles, office and administrative work, food service, laundry, building maintenance,
  farming/agriculture, and work on roads and parks from work such as data entry, where inmates were most often allowed access to personal information.  This author has viewed
  an informational video describing the invaluable role played by prisoners in helping
  maintain Independence Pass, an important road through the mountains near Aspen,
  CO, where erosion and falling rocks are a regular and real danger without needed
  road maintenance.
• States should be certified in the federal Prison Industry
  Enhancement (PIE) Program.  Federal law prohibits state prisons from selling their
  products in interstate commerce unless they are certified by a federal program known as PIE.  By failing to get certification, states may preclude opportunities for certain jobs for
  prisoners, and may unconsciously look towards telemarketing as an easy fix to fill the gap
  for prison jobs.

                   CONCLUSION:    PRISON-BASED TELEMARKETING SHOULD BE
                   COMPLETELY BANNED, FOR ALL IN-BOUND AND
                   OUTBOUND TELEMARKETING.

This article can be re-printed freely with appropriate credit to the author,
Michael C. Worsham.