Prison Policy Initiative (PPI) continues to urge the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to make changes to regulations on in-state calls carried by service providers in the prison pay-phone industry.
In a recent letter to FCC Secretary Marlene H. Dortch, PPI expressed gratitude for work done by the FCC to lower phone rates on interstate calls made from correctional facilities. The letter included articles from editorials detailing rate reduction around the country.
“I believe these stories will be particularly informative as you consider further regulation,” wrote Bernadette Rabuy, PPI’s policy and communications associate. “I urge the FCC to expand your protection to more families by regulating in-state phone rates and ancillary fees.”
Some fees are paid by telephone service providers to correctional facilities in exchange for the contract to do business with the facility, The Boston Globe reported.
According to The Globe, “These commission costs are then transferred to the customers in the form of phone charges that can run more than $1 per minute.”
“The (Colorado) prison system in 2014 took in $1.53 million more than it cost to run the system, resulting in a 58 percent profit margin,” The Denver Post editorial board reported earlier this year.
According to The Post, the law and other policies prohibit phone companies from “charging far in excess of what a service costs.”
In 2013, the FCC made reforms in the industry, one of which was to place a cap of 25 cents per minute on interstate collect calls made from correctional facilities.
Correctional telephone service providers often charge exorbitant fees to increase profits, circumventing regulatory reforms, critics say. “Securus is already making massive profits off of prisoners and their families,” the Huffington Post reported.
Securus is moving beyond the telephone market, to purchase the company JPay, which provides video visiting, electronic funds transfers, email and prison-approved tablets for inmates to play games and listen to music, according to the Huffington Post.
