Global Tel Link (GTL), formerly known as Global Telcoin, Inc. and Global Tel*Link Corporation, is a

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

–based telecommunications company, founded in 1989, that provides Inmate Calling Service (ICS) through "integrated information technology solutions" for correctional facilities which includes inmates payment and deposit, facility management, and "visitation solutions". The company's CEO is Evee Dolan. In 2020, GTL delivered 4.1 billion call minutes to incarcerated individuals and their families. GTL is owned by Michael & Herlinda Samaniego.

Board of directors

In 2019, Deb Alderson was Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Jeffrey Haidinger was President and Chief Operating Officer (COO), Steve Yow was Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Anthony R. Bambocci was Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President, and Matthew Caesar was Senior Vice President of Engineering and Development. Board members included Hugh D. Evans and Ramzi M. Musallam from

Veritas Capital Veritas Capital Fund Management, L.L.C. is a New York–based private-equity firm founded in 1992 that invests in companies providing critical products and services, primarily technology-enabled products and services, to government and commercial ...

and Jeffrey C. Weber from DC Capital Partners, LLC.

History

GTL was founded in 1980 in

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobil ...

, under the name Global Telcoin, Inc. The company changed its name in 1999 to Global Tel*Link Corporation.

Private-equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

firms

and

Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...

purchased GTL from Gores Equity LLC for $345 million. In October 2011, GTL was sold for $1 billion.

Controversies

GTL, along with other similar entities such as

Securus Technologies Securus Technologies is a technology communications firm serving prisons across the United States. The company is a subsidiary of Aventiv Technologies. In the past, the company has faced criticism over phone call pricing, data security, monopoly ...

and the private-equity firms that own them, such as

, have been criticized by advocacy groups, ''The New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', ''Bloomberg Business'', and some lawmakers, for charging overly high prices in their monopoly in communication with incarcerated individuals. The

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

(FCC) has tried unsuccessfully for many years to cap the price of phone calls, an effort deprioritized in the late 2010s under industry lobbying by the

first Trump administration Donald Trump's first tenure as the president of the United States began on January 20, 2017, when Trump First inauguration of Donald Trump, was inaugurated as the List of presidents of the United States, 45th president, and ended on January ...

. The

Biden administration Joe Biden's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 46th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Joe Biden, his inauguration on January 20, 2021, and ended on January 20, 2025. Biden, a member of the Democr ...

's FCC reduced the cost of minutes for inmates in May 2021.

Litigation

The company has faced a number of class action lawsuits for violating the

Federal Communications Act The Communications Act of 1934 is a United States federal law signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 19, 1934, and codified as Chapter 5 of Title 47 of the United States Code, et seq. The act replaced the Federal Radio Commission wi ...

. The plaintiffs claim that the company uses its position to establish high rates and pays kickbacks to facilities which award it the contract. In March 2016, the FCC ruled that Global Tel*Link could be limited on its prison call costs.

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

Jim Hood James Matthew Hood (born May 15, 1962) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 39th Attorney General of Mississippi from 2004 to 2020. Hood was first elected Attorney General in 2003, defeating Republican Scott Newton. A former ...

filed a lawsuit against Global Tel Link for

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercion, coercive, fraud, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. ...

, stating that the company was "involved in a conspiracy, scheme and/or enterprise that included bribery, kickbacks, misrepresentations, fraud, concealment, money laundering and other wrongful conduct." The suit alleged that GTL had paid "consulting fees" to an agent of the company, which were used in exchange for Mississippi Department of Corrections public contracts. Global Tel Link paid $2.5 million to settle the bribery lawsuit involving former Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps in August 2017. The company faced a class action lawsuit in 2024 with the plaintiffs claiming that the company engaged in a "quid pro quo kickback scheme" with county jails in Michigan which banned in-person visits in order to maximize revenue from voice and video calls.

Reception

GTL came under scrutiny for entering into concession contracts with local prisons in order to have a monopoly on the provision of inmate telecom. The FCC reported that an inmate call from GTL could cost as much as US$17.30 for a 15 minute call, The company claimed that these high costs were required in order to securely monitor these calls. In 2015, the FCC implemented a rule to cap the fees for interstate inmate phone calls at $3.75 for 15 minutes. But, in March 2016, a federal court ruled that the FCC could not cap rates on prison phone calls, but upheld its ability to cap other ancillary charges. In June 2017, the US Court of Appeals further rolled back the FCC rule.

References

{{reflist, 3 Telecommunications company headquarters in the United States Companies based in Reston, Virginia Telecommunications companies established in 1980 1980 establishments in Alabama Telecommunications companies of the United States Prison-related organizations