after ten years, federal communications commission votes to rein in prison phone rates

On Friday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to reduce interstate phone call costs for prisoners and their families. Many civil rights groups, including the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the Human Rights Defense Center, have been pushing the FCC to lower these exorbitant rates. The FCC has been weighing the issue for approximately 10 years.

On December 26, the FCC proposed new rules to reduce the cost of interstate phone calls from inmates. The deadline for initial comments was March 25. According to the ACLU’s press release,

Previously an unregulated part of the phone industry, prison calling costs have reached as high as $20 for a 15-minute call in some states. Beginning immediately, the FCC will cap rates at 25 cents per minute [for collect calls], meaning that the cost of a 15 minute long distance call will not exceed $3.75. The FCC also banned extra fees to connect a call or use a calling card.

More than 2 million families communicate with incarcerated family members via long-distance phone calls. The proposal approved Friday caps rates at 21 cents per minute for debit and prepaid calls. It also prohibits companies from penalizing customers with hearing loss or limitation for using relay services.

new resource available for making comments regarding the cost of prison and jail phone calls

On December 26, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposed new rules to reduce the cost of interstate phone calls from inmates. The FCC is now seeking comments on the cost of such calls. The deadline for initial comments is March 25.

For people who are interested in reining in prison phone rates, the Campaign for Prison Phone Justice recently released a guide to the FCC’s request for comments. The guide suggests topics and talking points. It also contains sample testimony:

I understand you are looking into the high costs of inmate phone services and the monopoly that allows them. Maintaining contact with my husband via phone calls is the biggest coping method for both of us. … You have the authority to help the families of inmates by lowering the amount per minute the companies are able to charge, and by giving us a choice in services so maybe that will bring the fees down. 

Finally, the guide includes instructions for how to file comments online or via mail. Please share this new resource with your friends and file comments before the deadline.

federal communications commission proposes new rules to rein in prison phone rates

Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, has said that “challenging mass incarceration requires that civil rights advocates do something they’ve long been reluctant to do: advocate on behalf of criminals.”

On Wednesday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) finally proposed new rules that would reduce interstate phone call costs for prisoners and their families. In some states, a 15-minute call costs as much as $20. The reason prison phone rates are so high is that phone companies pay commissions (or legal kickbacks) to state government agencies for exclusive contracts at prisons, and then pass these additional costs on to inmates and their families.

Many civil rights groups, including the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the Human Rights Defense Center, have been pushing the FCC to regulate prison phone rates. According to a September 23 New York Times editorial,

The time is long past for the F.C.C. — which has been weighing this issue for nearly a decade — to break up what amount to monopolies and ensure that prisoners across the country have access to reasonably priced interstate telephone service. … Overcharging inmates is not just unfair but also counterproductive, because it discourages inmates from keeping in touch with a world where they will be expected to fit in.

Several states have already lowered such rates by barring their corrections departments from requiring commission arrangements in telephone contracts. Federal prisons apparently use a less expensive, computerized system, though the federal system also makes a profit off of prisoners and their families.