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Show HN: Ameelio.org – Free Prison Communication Platform

ameelio.org

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Re: Show HN: Ameelio.org – Free Prison Communication Platform

#11

Post by flanbiscuit »

jessehorne wrote: post #2

Lead developer here. Ameelio is a non-profit that's building free technology to transform corrections and criminal justice. We've recently launched Letters, our first application that lets loved-ones of incarcerated individuals send physical mail for free. Currently, the situation is that two corporations own communication throughout the prisons and jails in the U.S (Global Tel Link and Securus). They charge ridiculo…

"Currently, the situation is that two corporations own communication throughout the prisons and jails in the U.S (JPay and Securus)."

Did you experience any issues trying to get into this space? Any push back from the companies mentioned or from any of the state prison systems?

What a great idea! That testimonial from the blind person on your home page is very moving.

Re: Show HN: Ameelio.org – Free Prison Communication Platform

#12

Post by rsweeney21 »

gabesaruhashi wrote: post #4

My name is Gabe and I am one of the co-founders of Ameelio. Though we only launched 4 weeks ago, we have over 1,250 users that collectively sent >3,000 letters across the entire country. While it’s free for us to videoconference on Zoom and Facetime during quarantine, it can cost up to $25 to make a 15-minute phone call to an incarcerated person. Some of you might be thinking: “Is it just a letter mailing service?” T…

This is awesome. Thanks for building this.

Re: Show HN: Ameelio.org – Free Prison Communication Platform

#13

Post by jessehorne »

flanbiscuit wrote: post #11
jessehorne wrote: post #2

Lead developer here. Ameelio is a non-profit that's building free technology to transform corrections and criminal justice. We've recently launched Letters, our first application that lets loved-ones of incarcerated individuals send physical mail for free. Currently, the situation is that two corporations own communication throughout the prisons and jails in the U.S (Global Tel Link and Securus). They charge ridiculo…

"Currently, the situation is that two corporations own communication throughout the prisons and jails in the U.S (JPay and Securus)." Did you experience any issues trying to get into this space? Any push back from the companies mentioned or from any of the state prison systems? What a great idea! That testimonial from the blind person on your home page is very moving.

First I'd like to thank you for the comment. You made me realize a mistake I made in mentioning JPay and Securus when I meant to say Global Tel Link and Securus.

As far as pushback from other companies, we haven't received any so far. There's nothing they can really do besides make their services more appealing. Currently, with Letters (our first app), it allows users to sign up, add their contacts (inmates), and then type out a letter and also are given the option to attach an image. Then we use a third party service, Lob, to print off the letter and send it. Given that we're just working with physical mail, there's absolutely nothing they can do to stop us.

One type of pushback we can receive is from facilities themselves. One facility returned one of our letters and said that you can't have anything in the letter that could be some form of encrypted message or symbol. In our case, that happened to be the bar code used by the third party service to manage their letters.

In the future, we'd like to also offer services like free video chat/messaging. In my opinion, we're not far from being able to offer those kinds of services. I can definitely imagine some sort of pushback happening in that space, but what kind specifically is TBD. I'm excited though, because if we can get to that point, we'll be literally transforming the system.

Re: Show HN: Ameelio.org – Free Prison Communication Platform

#15

Post by twomoretime »

flyGuyOnTheSly wrote: post #9

Just a tip upon first glance... You might want to make the homepage a bit more politically correct by changing up the first (and only?) two incarcerated ethnicities from being Black and Hispanic. I am aware they make up the majority of the American prison population, but they really shouldn't. Seems like a worthwhile project though. Good luck!

>I am aware they make up the majority of the American prison population, but they really shouldn't

Why? You think the entire disparity is explained by "socioeconomics" and/or "institutional racism"? More importantly, we're supposed to have "accurate" representation for positive traits, but only white men should be represented under negative circumstances?

Am I understanding this PC stuff correctly?

Re: Show HN: Ameelio.org – Free Prison Communication Platform

#18

Post by jessehorne »

iamthepieman wrote: post #17

Do you need volunteer developers or other types of professionals?

We could use all the help we can get. If you'd like, just reach out to our email with what you're interested in helping with or any skills you may have. I'm sure we can figure out something and I'm thankful you're interested in helping us!

team@ameelio.org

Re: Show HN: Ameelio.org – Free Prison Communication Platform

#19

Post by nerdponx »

twomoretime wrote: post #15
flyGuyOnTheSly wrote: post #9

Just a tip upon first glance... You might want to make the homepage a bit more politically correct by changing up the first (and only?) two incarcerated ethnicities from being Black and Hispanic. I am aware they make up the majority of the American prison population, but they really shouldn't. Seems like a worthwhile project though. Good luck!

>I am aware they make up the majority of the American prison population, but they really shouldn't Why? You think the entire disparity is explained by "socioeconomics" and/or "institutional racism"? More importantly, we're supposed to have "accurate" representation for positive traits, but only white men should be represented under negative circumstances? Am I understanding this PC stuff correctly?

You think the entire disparity is explained by "socioeconomics" and/or "institutional racism"

Yes.

Re: Show HN: Ameelio.org – Free Prison Communication Platform

#20

Post by catlas3r »

This is a good cause, but the headline given to this post threw me.

Clearly, it's meant as "make communication between prisoners and their loved ones outside of prison free of cost"

But because of the phrasing, I read it as "make prison communication-free" or "make it be such that prisons are free from communication" which is a scary draconian dystopia that I can sadly imagine happening in my and many other parts of the world.

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