Ameelio

Ameelio is a technology non-profit which provides free communications and educational tools for incarcerated communities and their relatives. It is the first non-profit telecommunications company to provide free prison communication services in the United States.[1][2]

History

Ameelio was co-founded in 2020 by two Yale students, Uzoma "Zo" Orchingwa and Gabriel Saruhashi, to allow incarcerated people in the United States to access free communications services.[3][4][5][6] Orchingwa and Saruhashi were motivated to found the organization because of the extremely high cost and inaccessibility of communications in prison,[7][8] which worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.[9] At launch, it allowed users to send photos and physical print-outs of digital letters to inmates,[10] it later expanded its services to include teleconferencing.[11] The organization received funding from Jack Dorsey, Eric Schmidt, Vinod Khosla, Kevin P. Ryan, Rich Barton, Devin Wenig, and Jack Smith.[12][13]

Ameelio currently supports free communications for incarcerated individuals and their families in the states of Iowa, Colorado, and Maine.[14][15]

References
  1. "Their App Sends Free Mail to Incarcerated People. Now They're Helping Prisoners Register to Vote". nextcity.org. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  2. "Ameelio wants to take on for-profit, prison-calling rackets after starting with free letters to inmates". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  3. "Sending a message". yalealumnimagazine.com. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  4. Koldas, Kardelen (July 8, 2021). "Uzoma "Zo" Orchingwa '14 offers sensible solutions to prison communications". Colby News.
  5. "The Most Creative People in Business 2021". Fast Company. Retrieved 2022-02-24.
  6. Roose, Kevin (2021-12-27). "The 2021 Good Tech Awards". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-02-24.
  7. "Tech Company Aims to Disrupt Predatorial Prison Phone Industry". www.colorlines.com. 2021-02-17. Retrieved 2022-02-24.
  8. Primack, Stef W. Kight,Dan (2019-06-08). "Private companies are making money off the prison system in every way imaginable". Axios. Retrieved 2022-02-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. Canales, Katie. "An app will turn your digital message into a physical letter and send it to loved ones in prison for free as the pandemic bans in-person visits to jails". Business Insider. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  10. Chan, Rosalie (July 4, 2020). "Ameelio helps communicate with incarcerated loved ones for free". Business Insider. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  11. Zabbasajja, Jennifer (September 8, 2021). "Can a Nonprofit Disrupt the Pricey Prison Phone Industry?". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2022-02-24.
  12. Au-Yeung, Angel. "The Prison Communications Nonprofit Backed By Twitter's Jack Dorsey And Former Google Chief Eric Schmidt". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  13. "Annual ABE grant program supports 15 'boots-on-the-ground' projects". ABA Journal. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  14. "Ameelio's free video calling service for inmates goes live at first facilities". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  15. "Cost of prison phone calls throwing families into debt". KMGH. 2021-09-22. Retrieved 2022-04-21.
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