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Dial Me Not From Jail

SedonaEye.com Columnist Eddie S. Maddock

Sedona AZ (May 29, 2012) – Frequently it only becomes real if we are confronted head-on with a situation of unknown consequences. 

At 11:35 AM on May 9th the phone rang and the Caller ID displayed “Inmate” with an accompanying phone number of (602) 281-1847. The message indicated only that it was from the Buckeye jail and, if the recipient happened to be legal council, to hang up and notify the sheriff’s office at (602) 876-1202. 

Further instructions given were: to learn the cost of the call press 8; to refuse the call press 5; to block future calls press 7; and to decline the call hang up. Also the call was not to be forwarded or transferred. 

Strange feeling it was because, to my knowledge, no one would be calling me from the Buckeye jail. A name was not offered so if anyone I knew was in trouble they remained unidentified.

Then in the back of my mind I vaguely remembered having heard some warning of similar such calls being made indicating they were from a relative of the person being contacted.

A day or so later I made a call to (602) 876-1202, the number given for legal council. Indeed, it was the answering network for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office

The first option offered for non-attorneys was one whereby complaints could be made about unwanted collect calls. That number is (602) 876-5412 which I called and spoke with a real live person. 

Sure enough, I was asked if knew anyone or had a relative in the Buckeye jail. Based on my answer and some other generalized comments about my concerns, I was told that by having rejected the call completely I had, indeed, done the proper thing.

Other responses might very well have enacted access to my phone for unlimited long distance calls to be made by inmates and charged to my telephone number. I was told there wasn’t a means by which to find the name or names of those placing the call. It was just a known pastime for inmates to do this sort of thing whenever they had the opportunity, and the use of my phone line could have been either a misdialed or random number. 

Beware. Whether we choose to or not, we walk among ’em.

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4 Comments

  1. google CHEAP INMATE CALLS or INMATE PRISON PHONE CALLS / see if you believe this (deleted) / they ASK people to call them & it’s OK ??????? (deleted) inmates running the asylums / support sheriff joe even more / put princess phones in joe & make sure they are PINK & pretty ooooohhhh so prettyyyyyy……

    Drake via Facebook comment May 30 Like

  2. Karin G. says:

    Ahhh yes, the scams continue on and on. I vaguely remember hearing about this one. Never fall for these. Eddie is one smart lady to have rejected this call; indeed she did the correct thing. Don’t be fooled. There are so many of these greedy scams going around, whether it is via email, snail mail or phone calls. Be aware of suspicious calls.
    Kudos to Eddie for pointing this out in her informative column!

  3. La Rae says:

    Very interesting. Smart chick for not accepting.

    Take care.

  4. Rick says:

    Why is it that inmates get the privilege of social calls, outgoing or incoming? Even I don’t use the phone when traveling on business or pleasure in hotels or pay phones in public because it’s too expensive but my taxpayer money goes to an inmate to provide him with this luxury? What is wrong with this scenario? Why is it that the state and federal government allow this when a letter is fine and costs only 45 cents to mail first class? Tea Partiers how about making this an agenda item? Make a difference and change this.

    Don’t give me any ridiculous excuses like no reading or writing skills! If they can identify numbers on a keypad and text messages, they can write a letter if it means so much for them to “keep in touch with their families, etc” because it seems that many of these inmates use the calls for “keeping in touch” with unknowns. This is wrong on so many levels there isn’t enough time or space to present all the reasons here.

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