DALLAS, July 31, 2015 — Securus Technologies announced today that it has signed a definitive Stock Purchase Agreement to acquire JPay Inc. JPay is the market leading technology company that introduced electronic payments, email and a host of entertainment and educational related apps to the corrections space, and currently operates in over 33 state prison systems.
“This transaction thrusts Securus into the fastest growing segments in corrections; payments, email and most recently, inmate tablets,” said Rick Smith, CEO of Securus Technologies. “We announced the transaction on April 14, 2015, and since that time we secured the debt and equity funding and necessary approvals from the State and Federal regulatory bodies and closed our transaction yesterday. We now can offer virtually anything that is high tech/software based that correctional agencies need to operate a modern prison or jail effectively. We have admired JPay as an innovative force in our industry for years, and have watched their continued success. It was an opportune time to combine our products and teams,” said Smith. “If you want the best products, at the best price, and want a product set that provides the best security while ultimately reducing recidivism – there is now a clear choice that includes Securus and JPay.”
“We are always eager to expand our footprint,” said Ryan Shapiro, JPay’s CEO. “Our products deliver tremendous value to every constituent; the prison staff, family and friends and of course, the inmate. Our focus is to develop groundbreaking products then gain adoption on a massive scale. With Securus behind us, we can now make that happen in a fraction of the time.”
“I credit our team for their relentless pursuit of the company’s vision which is to develop products that make prisons safer, more efficient, and most importantly that enable inmates to transition into good citizens once released,” says Shapiro. “Securus values our management team and company culture – so we will all stay in place long term to see our vision through – that was very important to me and to Securus.” In that regard, Mr. Smith will continue to run JPay as a wholly owned subsidiary of Securus, allowing JPay to continue operating as it does today, but with significant advantages from Securus’ deep relationships and human, product and financial resources.
About JPay
JPay, based in Miramar, Florida, is the leading provider of inmate payments, email and tablet products, serving 33 state Department of Corrections and over 1.6 million inmates. The use of these technologies greatly enhances the correctional agency’s ability to stop crime, reduce waste, and reduce recidivism. JPay, fully licensed money transmitter, was founded in 2002 as a payments company and later evolved to include a digital platform that combines tablets, kiosks, and an inmate cloud. The digital platform gives inmates access to email, music, books, games, shopping and education. To learn more about JPay’s full suite of technology solutions, visit www.jpay.com.
About Securus Technologies
Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and serving more than 2,600 public safety, law enforcement and corrections agencies and over 1,000,000 inmates across North America, Securus Technologies is committed to serve and connect by providing emergency response, incident management, public information, investigation, biometric analysis, communication, information management, inmate self-service, and monitoring products and services in order to make our world a safer place to live. Securus Technologies focuses on connecting what matters®. To learn more about our full suite of civil and criminal justice technology solutions, please visit SecurusTechnologies.com.