Image from Black Enterprise
We often talk about how important it is to have a support network. Having a support network became critical over the last year as we’ve dealt with the economic and personal effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Imagine how you would have managed, or continue to manage, without the support of your friends and family. Now imagine that you lost all connection to those you care about, and that loss of connection lasted for years.
Some people don’t have to imagine that, and those are the people Frederick Hutson set out to help.
Hutson is the CEO and founder of Pigeonly, a tech company dedicated to creating products for the overlooked and underserved. In particular, the company develops software to “address and solve communication barriers between inmates and their support network of family and friends.”
Hutson grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He joined the US Air Force after high school, and was honorably discharged when he was 23. Hutson experimented with different entrepreneurial ventures during his time in the military, and ultimately launched many successful businesses. He even sold one of them. However, it was his entrepreneurial spirit that would land him in trouble.
After leaving the Air Force, Hutson was arrested for mailing marijuanna via FedEx, UPS, and DHL. He began serving his 51-month sentence in 2007, where he noticed a problem: There were a lot of barriers to communicating with friends and family.
While the outside world became increasingly dependent on electronic communications and using web-based platforms (social media) to communicate, inmates were limited to regular pen-and-paper letters. Today, if prisoners have access to the internet, it’s usually fairly limited. It was basically nonexistent during Hutson’s time. As people moved to the digital platforms, they sent fewer letters to their loved ones in prison. In addition, phone calls are often expensive.
Hutson’s entrepreneurial senses saw an opportunity and he began figuring out how to solve this problem. His solution was, obviously, Pigeonly which is ultimately a database that collects state-level information on inmates. This database makes it easier for family, friends, and even lawyers to find someone, especially since inmates tend to be moved around.
In an interview with Forbes magazine, he said, “People get lost in the system all the time…. We have attorneys contacting us trying to find their clients.”
Today, Pigeonly includes software products that allow digital prints to be sent to inmates (Potopigeon) and that lowers phone call rates (Telepigeon).
Banner image from The New Your Times