The Federal Communications Commission voted to increase the cost of telephone service in jails and prisons as industry giant ViaPath (Global Tel*Link) is set to pay $3 million in fines as a result of using its monopolistic control to block prisoners’ accounts. 

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau accused GTL of wrongfully draining prisoners’ accounts. Through its business affiliates, the phone company is said to have “abused its monopoly power by putting in place policies that harmed incarcerated people and their families when they didn’t have a choice in providers,” according to Bloomberg.

All of this comes as the FCC reversed course on rules signed a year ago to limit what companies such as ViaPath and Aventiv (Securus Technologies) can charge the incarcerated, their families and friends.

“The vote raises the current cap for calls in prisons and jails by at least two cents per minute for voice and video calls, benefiting telecom providers such as ViaPath Technologies and Aventiv Technologies,” Bloomberg reported. 

The change in pricing is projected to cost prisoners and their families more than $200 million a year, according to the incarcerated advocate Worth Rises.

“In the past, jails and prisons earned a large share of the telecom companies’ incarceration-related revenue in the form of commissions,” Bloomberg reported. “The FCC last year outlawed that practice, but the commission reopened the topic for public comment.”

Most jail and prison systems normally have a single telecommunications service provider. It was reported that Aventiv faced bankruptcy when it was unable to find a buyer to repay its debt. 

“The reduction in rates threatened to cause ‘irreparable harm,’” the company stated when it requested a stay of the FCC’s decision, pending judicial review.

Both companies, Aventiv and ViaPath, told regulators they needed “the ability to recoup higher costs that come from inflation and doing business in secure conditions,” according to Bloomberg. They reasoned rate reductions would force them to halt service in some lockup facilities.

FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said the new rate cap order is “indefensible,” and called it a “greedy” cash grab by telecommunication companies that have failed to provide satisfactory details to prove they would not be able to operate under a lower rate structure.