Securus Technologies Reports Significant Progress in Accessibility, Education, And Advancing Technology

DALLAS, Nov. 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Aventiv Technologies and its corrections-services subsidiary Securus Technologies, today reported progress made toward comprehensive, transformation commitments announced in mid-January to make the company's products and services accountable, accessible, and affordable. These commitments benefit incarcerated Americans and correctional facilitates across the United States.

As part of this initiative, Securus aggressively reduced rates for its correctional communications services by renegotiating 59 contracts with local agencies nationwide, to eliminate higher-than-average rates and fees. These efforts have resulted in:

    --  Rates that continue to decline, bringing the nationwide average cost of
        a 15-minute phone call to $2.25; and
    --  Year to date through October, more than 50 percent of all calls on a
        Securus platform cost less than $1.00.

In addition to these significant rate reductions, Aventiv furthered its commitment to offering industry-leading low-cost options for incarcerated Americans and their families, including:

    --  Eliminating third-party financial service fees on vendors like Western
        Union and MoneyGram that resulted in a 50 percent savings for customers.
    --  Introducing paySupreme(TM), a pre-paid card that allows friends and
        family of incarcerated individuals to send money to a loved one's trust
        account at a 30 percent discounted rate.
    --  Announced a new subscription pricing model for phone calls designed to
        provide consumers with a simple, pre-set monthly charge that allows for
        even more phone conversations with loved ones while simplifying billing
        and payment. The pilot will be available by the end of 2020 at select
        sites.

Aventiv also deployed several key initiatives that advance the January commitments, including:

    --  Education, Reentry, & Recidivism
        --  Finalized partnership with Televerde - which aligns with Aventiv's
            Second Chance Hiring Principles and commitment to further invest in
            re-entry services -- employing forty-five incarcerated women to
            support customer service efforts with the goal of increasing quality
            service and empathy in interacting with consumers. The program's
            comprehensive offerings provides real-life job experience,
            certification and skills and professional development that will
            change their lives for the better.
            --  According to a recent study conducted by Arizona State
                University's Seidman Research Institute, incarcerated women who
                work with Televerde have a recidivism rate that is 91 percent
                lower than the national average of women released from state
                prisons according to the Bureau of justice Statistics.
            --  94 percent of all Televerde graduates are still employed five
                years after their release and they earn four times the salary of
                other formerly incarcerated women who did not participate in the
                program.
        --  Deepened commitments to educational offerings and celebrating the
            600th degree conferral from our post-secondary Lantern program.
        --  Added more than 600 new students to the post-secondary Ashland
            University program across Arizona, Missouri and North Dakota.
        --  Expanded CourseShare content providers by adding Academy of Hope and
            AcomplishED Ventures.

    --  Listening & Responsiveness
        --  Hosting regular virtual meetings with stakeholders that include
            facility administrators, elected officials, current and former
            regulators, industry advocates, families of incarcerated Americans,
            and the formerly incarcerated to facilitate conversation and better
            meet their needs.
        --  Engaging conversations led to the organization's eBook catalog to be
            published on Aventiv.com, helping to provide more transparency for
            the free offering.

    --  Technology & Innovation
        --  Continuing to invest in the physical infrastructure of the
            facilities that partner with Aventiv, the organization has invested
            more than 40 million dollars in technologies in 2020 to date.
        --  Launching the new JPS6 tablet and Securus Unity software platform to
            provide more advanced technological options for incarcerated
            Americans.
        --  Utilizing Securus Technologies' suite of investigative and security
            tools, the organization was able to intercept more than 7,000 cases
            of suspicious activity since January 1, 2020, including threats,
            violence, witness tampering, financial fraud and other unlawful
            actions.

"Despite the exceptional challenges caused by the pandemic, we have achieved significant progress against our commitments," said Dave Abel, President and CEO of Aventiv Technologies. "We have continued investing our technology, leveraged sentiments from key stakeholders to improve transparency, and developed an expansive COVID-19 emergency program all while reducing our rates and creating new and affordable programs for our customers. I am extremely proud of the work our team has done this year and know that even more progress lies ahead."

Aventiv also continued the organization's commitment to working with our facility partners to provide free and reduced rate communications options for incarcerated Americans and their loved ones so they can stay connected during the unprecedented pandemic. To date, those offerings include:

    --  30.2 million free calls, totaling 215.9 million free minutes of phone
        connections
    --  5.5 million free video connections
    --  16.1 million free JPay Stamps for electronic messaging to 507,000
        incarcerated individuals
    --  172,729 free monthly subscriptions to Newsstand
    --  613,788 free game downloads

Aventiv and Securus will continue to release progress updates on the organization's transformation commitments, including making products and services more affordable and accessible. For past progress reports and a detailed overview of the company's commitments, goals, and achievements, visit https://transformation.aventiv.com/.

ABOUT SECURUS TECHNOLOGIES
Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Securus Technologies, a subsidiary of Aventiv Technologies, serves more than 3,450 public safety, law enforcement and corrections agencies and over 1,100,000 incarcerated individuals across North America. The Aventiv organization is committed to providing emergency response, incident management, public information, investigation, biometric analysis, communication, information management, incarcerated self-service, and monitoring products and services in order to make our world a safer place to live. For more information, please visit www.Aventiv.com. Aventiv is a portfolio company of Platinum Equity. Founded in 1995 by Tom Gores, Platinum Equity is a global investment firm with a portfolio of approximately 40 operating companies that serve customers around the world.

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SOURCE Securus Technologies