Category: Technology

Prisoners and their families needed to be able to connect. Law enforcement and other members of the corrections industry needed to secure the safety and well-being of their citizens. For both entities it was important to make the right connections. Rick Smith has been in the telecommunications industry since 1972. He served in various capacities while working for Global Crossing North America from 1972 to 1998. His expertise in the industry was noticed when it came to choosing someone who had a handle of the financial aspects of the business. Smith wasn’t Securus Technologies’ first choice when they established the company in 1986. He would need to hone his skills at Eschelon Telecom Inc. It was here where Smith from 1998 to 2000 improved the financial aspects of the company as Chief Financial Officer. He was also busy learning more about the new communication technology available. His hard work and dedication to the company earned him respect. He was promoted to company president in 2000 and served until 2003. He was promoted again in 2003 to take over as CEO.

It was around 2007 that Smith got interested in prisoner communication. He knew that newer technology was being implemented all the time. His company had been working with telecommunication companies that served prisons and other correctional facilities. The officers at Securus Technologies noticed his work and the fact that he had been a driving force for change within his current organization. For the officers of Securus Technologies it was important that they hire someone who had an extensive knowledge of the telecommunications industry and had some dealings with this type of communication. Smith fit the requirements for the recently vacant position perfectly. He understood the companies that would be merging together. He had the background Securus needed to make sure the transition went smoothly. He had the enthusiasm and motivation to move the company forward. He could “hit the ground running” as he understood the core elements of Securus’ mission.

It was Smith’s commitment to connecting what matters most to both the incarcerated and their families that contributed to Securus’ success from the time he took over the reins in 2008. Smith saw Securus Technologies as a strong investment. He realized early on that he needed to encourage ongoing service and project development throughout the company. He also knew that public safety, law enforcement and corrections agencies would depend on his company to provide them with safe and secure communication portals. Securus Technologies’ commitment to making the right connections showed in the innovative ways they continually help prisoners connect with their families. Easy to use but secure communication was and still is an ongoing process for Smith and his company.

Leading the charge for dynamically growing company Securus Technologies is Chief Executive Officer Rick Smith. Smith was appointed as CEO by the Board of Directors in 2008 after successfully holding multiple leadership positions within the company as well as having a sterling career in management at several large companies. In each position he has held, he has grown the company to a more successful place than it was prior to him accepting the management position. Securus Technologies is one more success story for Rick Smith’s leadership. He joined the company in the early 2000s and rapidly climbed their management ladder prior to being named as Chief Executive Officer. The company was created after the successful merger of other companies and was just a baby in the field of Inmate Management Technology at its inception. However, today is as become a leader, if not the leader, in the field and it is known as the innovator of the industry, consistently developing new technologies to serve North America’s correctional facility institutions.

Securus Technologies has two branches of its services to prisons and correctional facilities.First, they offer calling services to inmates. They are revolutionary in this field in two ways. In the first way, they allow inmates’ loved ones to credit their account in a bank account style way of funding that can easily be done online. The person simply logs on and adds a certain amount of money to the inmate’s account and they can then use this to either make or receive calls from their loved ones. Not only can they make calls but they can make video calls as well as emails. It has been shown that inmates who have more contact with loved ones and the outside world adjust better than those who don’t upon release.Second, Securus Technologies provides technology programs that make prisons safer in a technological age.

For example they have a Cell Phone Defender program that seeks out and locates contraband cell phones being brought into prisons illegally. These cell phones can be used to do a variety of illegal activities or harmful activities that can damage people on the outside. Additionally they have a program that blocks these cell phones from being able to connect to the internet so that even if they pass by security there is no potential to cause damage. Rick Smith has been an asset in taking Securus Technologies to the next level since he has become Chief Executive Officer. He is a passionate innovator that encourages his team members to always be looking for the next way to push Securus to the forefront of inmate technology security. Securus Technologies is now one of the leaders in the Inmate Management Technology industries and it continues to grow and expand its product offerings.