Beijing, Aug. 8 (Zhongxin.com) -- Recently, it was reported online that the Hebei prison system adopted a mobile phone application for remote video meetings between inmates and their families, which charges 11 yuan for each 20-minute call. For a time, the topic of "whether families should be charged, how, and who is charging" caused heated discussions among netizens.
Netizens have different attitudes. Some people believe that "offline meetings have time and transportation costs, and it is normal for third-party companies to charge fees for providing online services", and some people question: "Meetings are a judicial power, is this charging model reasonable?" Some netizens also asked, "Why should third-party companies collect fees?" ”
In response to the above controversy, Chinanews.com conducted multiple interviews and investigations to try to clarify the key issues behind the video interview app fees for prison inmates.
What does it cost 20 yuan for 50 minutes of talk?
Hebei Prison Administration staff: Concerned
Who is charging? How are the fees determined? Will the process and basis for selecting a third-party company be announced?
On August 8, Chinanews.com called the Hebei Provincial Prison Administration on the above issues, and a staff member responded that he had paid attention to the problems reported by netizens and had made records and reported to relevant departments.
According to previous media reports, a staff member of Baoding Prison said that there is no charge for face-to-face meetings in prisons, and remote video meetings are convenient services provided by third-party companies, and fees are also charged by third-party companies. "It's normal to make money, because you use other people's equipment to connect to other people's networks, and it also saves you time and travel costs."
A number of copyrights of related companies are related to the prison field
The staff said they would not be interviewed
Chinanews.com noticed that the Hebei Provincial Prison System adopts a video meeting platform called "Family Meeting", and the certified main company is Hebei Lichi Information Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Lichi Technology"). According to the official account of "Family Meeting", the platform is responsible for video meetings in 14 prisons, including Hebei Women's Prison, Baoding Prison, and Jizhong Prison.
The "Family Meeting" public account was released, and the platform was responsible for video meetings in many prisons in Hebei
According to the enterprise inspection APP, Lichi Technology was established in 2016, with 4 insured people, and its main business is information technology, software research and development, technical consulting, technology transfer, information system integration services, etc. The Qichacha APP also shows that Lichi Technology has a number of copyright and bidding projects focused on the field of prison management.
The bidding information of Lichi Technology displayed in the Qichacha APP
The published prison-related software copyrights include the inmates' meeting management system, the family interview management system, the prison grid management system, and the inmates' video playback management system, all of which were developed in 2021.
According to the Qichacha APP, Lichi Technology owns a number of software copyrights, mostly involving the prison field
On August 8, Chinanews.com dialed the contact number of the company announced by Lichi Technology in its annual report, and the other party did not want to disclose his identity, and repeatedly said "I don't know, I don't accept interviews, you can contact the official or prison side", and then hung up the phone.
Remote video meetings have been introduced in many prisons
Some provinces have made it clear that prisons "do not charge any fees"
Chinanews.com found that in order to solve the problem of difficulties in meeting relatives of prisoners due to regional, transportation, economic, health and other reasons, many prisons have opened remote video meetings, but the fees are different.
For example, Maoming Prison in Guangdong Province issued a notice on the public account in 2022 on the use of a visual family phone system, mentioning that the costs incurred are collected by the software developer, and the prison does not charge any fees. According to the tariff standard of 8 yuan / time in the first 3 minutes, and 8 yuan / minute after 1 minutes, the charge for each call does not exceed 10 yuan.
Lanzhou Prison in Gansu Province also mentioned in the precautions for introducing the telephone meeting with visual family affection, that the prison does not charge any fees, the expenses incurred are collected by the development service company, and the expenses incurred by the family members are borne by the family.
According to incomplete statistics from Chinanews.com, Yunnan, Anhui, Heilongjiang, Hubei and other provinces have issued their own "judicial administrative remote video meeting management measures".
The Measures for the Administration of Remote Video Meetings in Yunnan Province and the Regulations on the Administration of Video Meetings with Criminals of the Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Justice (Draft for Comments) both mention that "video meetings are a project to benefit the people, and no unit or individual may collect any fees for any reason".
Should prisoners be charged?
Lawyer: It is a legal right to meet relatives
Xu Hao, a lawyer at Beijing Jingshi Law Firm, said in an interview with Chinanews.com that according to the law, criminals serving prison sentences have the right to meet with their relatives and guardians. For example, article 47 of the Prison Law stipulates: "During the period of serving his sentence, criminals may correspond with others, but the correspondence shall be subject to prison inspection", and article 48: "While serving their sentences in prison, criminals may, in accordance with regulations, meet with relatives and guardians".
"The practice in various prisons in our country is that inmates can not only meet with their families in person in prison, but also call and communicate with their families in accordance with regulations, of course, video calls are also a type of communication. Since meeting relatives is a legal right for prisoners serving sentences, the relevant departments should protect their legitimate rights in accordance with the law, and the equipment and facilities for how to implement this right should be included in the government budget and paid for by government financial funds, rather than the operating fees of third-party commercial institutions. Xu Hao said.
He also said that not everything purchased by the government cannot be charged, but depends on the circumstances. "For example, if this kind of service is beneficial to you personally and has nothing to do with the public interest, you should charge a fee, such as obtaining a lawyer's license. In this case, I don't think there is a charge for prison inmates and relatives to talk to them. ”
Ding Jinkun, a lawyer at Shanghai Dabang Law Firm, also told Chinanews.com that prisons are administrative organs that enforce criminal punishments, and the communication of criminals in prisons belongs to the free public service provided by administrative organs. Prisons use APP, and the quality and cost of providing public services should be borne by prisons. "If you want to charge fees, you need to have laws and regulations, and you can't charge like private companies." (End)