It’s always the same number. I thought about going through the phone company, but then I got pig headed about it. Totally irrational on my part, I know, but I know consider it a crusade against this company. If there are calls listed on my caller ID when I get home, then the blocking (second) has clearly not worked, and letters will have to be sent.
villa, I pm’d you as well.
Thank you Juliana. I don’t think I have ever got so many PMs before. I am feeling quite special!
Can’t you report harassment to the phone company? On the next call, can’t you run a trace and report it to the police? Maybe call the State Attorney? Document everything!
It’s not harassment, and there’s no point in running a trace because villa knows where the calls are coming from. AFAIK, there’s no crime being committed, since the inmate isn’t threatening anyone; he’s just calling a wrong number.
In Virginia, calls are either collect or pre-paid. The inmate still has to have permission from the person whose phone it is in order to call that person; this prevents the inmate from talking to people who don’t necessarily want to talk to him. villa can have the calls blocked, but the company responsible for the prison’s phone systems is being less than helpful. villa started this thread and is getting some answers and people he can talk to.
It’s a nuisance, not a crime.
Robin
It is late in the game, but I think we finally have a winner for most unbelievable bleeding understatement of 2008… 
He’s already in prison. I’m not sure a strongly worded letter from the State Attorney’s office will do a great deal of good…
The prisoner isn’t the one at fault here. He’s not making the calls. He gave my number to the system, which robocalls me repeatedly.
Ain’t that the truth…
Sadly, Global Tel doesn’t have a reputation for being helpful. I’ve read way too many horror stories about their koff Customer Service (hack).
Ha, I got a call once from the automated machine at the local county lockup telling me that there was an incoming call from an inmate, would I accept the charges. Knowing more than one person in my life who could be calling under such circumstances I agreed. Turned out it was some dude I’ve never heard from before in my life who had the number misdialed for him. He asked me to call his girlfriend for him, but hung up when I asked if she had big tits.
I always wondered if I was going to get stabbed one day because of that.
Bread and water for a month?
What is my recourse if Acme Vacuum Cleaners or Global Tel calls me three times a day, after I’ve taken every reasonable step to stop them? When, if ever, does nuisance become crime? Is civil action a possibility?
12/30. 3:19 pm. Call from MCI VA Correctional. 
Wow. They suck.
Telco employee checking in - actually, assuming that villa has contacted the right company (always a dicey proposition, in these sorts of cases), requested that they desist calling her, and they haven’t, it is harassment.
Villa, if nothing else works, call your phone company and open a report of harassing phone calls. The company I work for has a department called the “Annoyance Call Bureau”, your provider will have something similiar. Their primary function is to assist folks recieving truly harassing calls (obscene, threatening, etc), but they should be willing to help you too.
The best action, assuming Global Tel won’t play ball, would be to go to the Virginia Department of Corrections and notify them that he is not interested in receiving prisoner phone calls, and can they run interference with Global Tel to stop them? This would also have the effect of making sure the prisoner has the correct information.
Some poor sod is trying to call his family and is getting villa instead. villa, for his part, does not wish to take these calls. It’s an innocent misunderstanding, nothing more, nothing less. villa is trying to work with Global Tel to make sure the prisoner stops calling him, which Global Tel seems to be unwilling to do.
It’s annoying, yes. It’s not criminal. Cut the poor sod some slack; it sucks to be in prison over the holidays and not be able to talk to your family because you’re calling some stranger.
Robin
Easy solution : disconnect the phone.
When your folks want to talk to you, they’ll call your cellphone for two seconds, then you plug the landline, and can have a long, cheap conversation.
It’s what I do with my mum when she’s abroad - even though I’m on the Do Not Call list, am not in the phonebook and don’t even know my own landline number, much less give it to any business whatsoever, I used to get called by telemarketers, banks and churches 5 times a week on average, sometimes at bloody 7 am on SUNDAY. I work from home anyway, so… yeah.
Of course, that won’t do much for the poor schlep in jail 