About Talton :: History

Corporate Experience & Past Performance

Talton Communications, Inc. is an Alabama based company that was founded in 2002. The company’s primary lines of business are public payphones, inmate telephone, and video visitation systems. The company has 16employees. There are 7 people in operations, 3 in sales, 4 in customer service, and 2 in administrative. The company owns its own 13,000 square foot building in Selma.

Talton Communications, Inc. has a long history in the communications industry. The company’s predecessor entity, Talton Telecommunications Corp., was founded in 1971 and, at one time, was the largest private payphone company in the United States. The company installed its first inmate telephone system in Alabama in 1990. Talton Telecommunications Corp. grew rapidly and had at one point its inmate telephone system in 60 of the 67 county jails in Alabama, 45 county jails and 1 state prison in Mississippi, and 33 county jails in North and South Carolina. In 1994, Talton Telecommunications Corp. won the State of Alabama prison contract that consisted of approximately 20,000 inmates located in 31 facilities throughout the state. Talton Telecommunications Corp. was the only private payphone provider that held a state prison phone contract at that time. Talton Telecommunications Corp. won this contract over BellSouth, MCI, Sprint, and ATT.

The ownership group of Talton Telecommunications consisted of Julius Talton, Sr., James E. Lumpkin, and Julius Talton, Jr. In 1996, the company sold the company to a group of investors that purchased other inmate telephone companies around the U.S. These companies were located in Kansas, California, Kentucky, Georgia, and Louisiana. The company that was formed to purchase these other companies was called Talton Holdings, Inc. At the end of 1997, Talton Holdings, Inc. had over $200 million in sales. Julius Talton, Sr. was Chairman of the Board. Julius Talton, Jr. and James E. Lumpkin were each Vice-Presidents of the company. All three were instrumental in raising a $115 million bond offering for Talton Holdings, Inc.

In early 1997, Talton Holdings secured a contract with BellSouth Public Communications to process inmate telephone calls and manage the bad debt, validation, and call inquiry functions. BellSouth Public had just been formed as a separate subsidiary from BellSouth Corp. Julius Talton, Jr. was instrumental in negotiating this contract for Talton Holdings. This contract represented an additional $6 million in income to Talton Holdings. The contract saved BellSouth Public Communications over $5 million per year and brought the company to profitability in a short time.

In the latter part of 1997, with the close assistance of Talton, Sr., Lumpkin, and Talton, Jr., Talton Holdings won the inmate telephone contract for the State of North Carolina. The contract included approximately 30,000 inmates in 43 facilities throughout the state. It also included over 600 public payphones in public areas on state property. The ability of the company to operate both inmate and public payphones secured the contract for the company. The other bidders on the project were BellSouth and ATT. ATT, at the time, did very few payphones other than airports and hotels.

In 1998, Talton, Sr., Lumpkin, and Talton, Jr. left Talton Holdings as employees, but remained on as shareholders and board members. The company then changed its name to Evercom Systems. The Talton group then purchased WWISP, Inc., an Internet Service Provider based in Birmingham, AL. The company is the oldest ISP in Alabama and has an emphasis on VOIP applications.

In 2002, Talton, Jr. purchased the public payphone assets of the Alabama operation from Evercom. This consisted of approximately 600 payphones and route was unprofitable. Talton, Jr. then formed Talton Communications, Inc. to purchase these assets. One of the conditions of the transaction was that Talton, Jr. could not compete in the inmate telecommunications market for 4 years.

In 2003, Evercom Systems defaulted on a bond payment to its creditors and was forced to reorganize the company. The Talton group lost 98% of its investment in the company. Meanwhile, in 2003 BellSouth Corp. announced that it was dissolving BellSouth Public and that its payphone customers needed to find payphone services from other vendors. Talton Communications, Inc. moved quickly and grew its payphone base from 600 payphones to over 2,000 payphones, although the number of units installed has decreased from its high point to slightly under 1,600 payphones today.

In 2005, Gary Vancil, a retired police lieutenant from the Selma Police Department joined the company in to handle sales. Mr. Vancil had over 25 years of experience in law enforcement and had contacts throughout the Southeastern U.S. Gary was the team leader of the escort detail for President Clinton when he visited Selma in 2000.

In July, 2006, the non-competition agreement with Evercom Systems (now called Securus) expired and Talton Communications, Inc. was free to pursue inmate telephone contracts. The company is one of the fastest growing inmate communications providers in the Southeast.

In 2008, the company will process over $4 million in inmate telephone revenues. Also, in 2008, the company began offering video visitation systems to its inmate telephone customers. Utilizing this system, inmates are able to conduct live non-contact visitation via a remote location with their families, friends, and attorneys. Given the fuel crisis our country is in currently, we believe this service will take off as people will not have to travel to the jail facilities to conduct video visitation. Further, this increases security and reduces manpower inside the jail as inmates do not have to be escorted to meet with their families.