I just received a phone call from my mom who was disgruntled that the county jail now requires $20 to make a visitation appointment from home. The alternative is to drive almost an hour away to make an appointment for free at the facility, but not a same day appointment (so what previously took one evening, now takes two and a week of planning). For somebody with low income it has become difficult to do something that was traditionally done in one evening with no fee. Now they are charging a premium for 'convenience'. I am dumbfounded that this behavior is allowed. Anti consumer monopolies are totally allowed within jails.
The facilities that use these 3rd party services receive a percentage of the fees. So you create conflict of interest. Higher recidivism rate = more money for the jails.