In the US there have been issues with convicts being used as call centre staff. In Australia I was struck by an item over the weekend in the tabloid Daily Telegraph under the headline "Convicted criminals are paid to call schools and hospitals from prison to collect sensitive information"
The state’s most notorious female criminals, including convicted murderers, are being paid to call schools and hospitals from prison to collect sensitive information.The article goes on
Outraged parents have demanded an explanation from the Department of Education.
“We had no idea. I am sure it is something that the wider community would not understand,” Sharon Brownlee, from the NSW Federation of Parents and Citizens Associations, said yesterday.
Sources have confirmed the identities of some of the prisoners working in the call centre. Their job is to ring around schools, hospitals and other government agencies seeking names and job positions, among other information, to update records for outside clients who pay for the service.
Ms Brownlee said parents would be shocked to learn that any information about their children’s schools was being secretly collected by criminals.
“I would have liked to think that as parents, we would have been told that this went on,” Ms Brownlee said. “If there is a sharing of data between schools and other agencies, we would think the P and C would have been notified about it and how the data is being used. It’s something that is most concerning.”The call centre is reportedly operated by Corrective Services Industries, the commercial arm of Corrective Services NSW that gives prisoners work skills and that made a profit of $24 million in the previous financial year.
NSW Primary Principals’ Association president Geoff Scott is reported as commenting that
it “wasn’t ideal” to have killers calling schools but staff who answered calls had strict protocols when it came to giving out information.A Corrective Services spokesperson is reported as indicating that the system had operated for nine years without incident.
He said the calls were closely monitored and recorded by prison officers and inmates were vetted and assessed for their suitability.The basis of that vetting isn't clear.
Reassurance is provided by the comment that
The system did not allow inmates to dial any number other than those assigned to them and inmates read from a script when on the phone, the spokesman said. “The inmates call government agencies and businesses to update basic database contact information. They do not call private individuals or homes and they do not speak to children,” he said.The US features use of convicts in the Federal prison system and 11 state prison systems for call services that include handling ingoing or outgoing calls, tourism information lines, telemarketing and market research.
