Bail bond companies claim foul play

COEUR d'ALENE - Representatives from local bail bond companies complained to the Kootenai County commissioners on Monday that it has been difficult doing business lately.

They said inmates in Kootenai County's jail have been relying on an unreliable phone system, and the names and phone numbers of all local bail bond companies haven't always been accessible to inmates.

Kootenai County Sheriff's Office officials, who operate the jail at 5500 N. Government Way, heard them out and promised to look into both problems.

"I get the idea that you guys - this is your livelihood," said Undersheriff Dan Mattos. "I think that's a critical place for us all to start a conversation. The sheriff is sensitive to it. I'm sensitive to it."

Nanette Meaux, one of the owners of National Bail Bonds in Hayden, said the county should make a list of names and phone numbers of local bail bonds companies available to all inmates.

"Kootenai jail is the only jail we've identified - both statewide and in the multi-state region of Idaho, Washington and Montana - that provides inmates information about bail companies exclusively by the means of a local telephone book," Meaux said.

"We have no way to control what the inmates are seeing," said Toni Meyer, of Freedom By Toni Bailbonds in Coeur d'Alene. "We are endlessly screaming about phonebooks being switched out" and pages being ripped out.

A half-dozen bail bond companies are based in Kootenai County, but operate in multiple states. More than 50 are based in Idaho.

The Idaho Department of Insurance is the authority on licensed bail agencies in the state. It regularly updates its list and makes it available on its website.

The jail's inmate phone system, operated by Telmate, is unreliable, the representatives said. It's costing them business.

Meaux said Telmate is the worst jail phone service they deal with, and National Bail Bonds operates in 38 states.

"The inmate call quality for Telmate is so poor that the calls are often unintelligible," Meaux said.

That's if inmates get through at all. Often they don't, she said.

Telmate's website said its system is run on Voice Over Internet Protocol or VOIP technology, and the administration system is Web-based.

"If we were getting our fair share of calls, without interference, we would have very little to look into or complain about," said Frank Davis, of Allied Bail Bonds in Coeur d'Alene.

"(Since) I'm hearing this many problems about Telmate, we're going to look at it," Mattos said.

The county has a contract with Telmate. Mattos said he didn't know if terminating the contract right now is an option.

"I wasn't the undersheriff at the time the negotiations were done to go to Telmate," Mattos said.

It's likely that Telmate offered the service at the lowest cost to the county, he said.

Mattos expressed concern about posting lists at the jail of bail bonds companies and their phone numbers. If a company gets left off a list, which would be updated regularly, the sheriff's office doesn't want to be held responsible.

"If there is a mechanism that's in place that works somewhere else, tell me about it and we'll do something," he said.

The commissioners and Mattos agreed to meet with the bail bond companies again in a month.