Inmate Call FNPRM Circulates
An FCC Further NPRM on inmate calling circulated Thursday, as expected (CD Sept 25 p1). An inmate advocacy group that’s been pushing for reforms praised the action it called a “step forward” and “great opportunity” to further bring down the costs of inmate phone calls. But a jail association said the fees have a useful purpose. The FNPRM circulated by Chairman Tom Wheeler proposes to make permanent the FCC interim cap on interstate inmate calling rates, impose caps on intrastate rates, get rid of commissions paid to correctional facilities and cap such ancillary charges as transactions fees.
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"Much more work needs to be done,” even after the 2013 order that set the interim interstate caps, said Commissioner Mignon Clyburn during a press call Thursday. Clyburn is directing the FNPRM after pushing the 2013 reforms as interim chairwoman. The high costs of prison phone service are borne by “some of society’s most vulnerable -- the children, friends and family of inmates, who are denied meaningful contact with their loved ones,” Clyburn said.
A key part of the FNPRM is the proposed ban on site payments, said Human Rights Defense Center Associate Director Alex Friedmann in an interview. While the payments would be barred after a two-year transition period, the costs facilities incur for providing the service would be built into the rate price cap, Clyburn said. Global*Tel Link, Securus Technologies and Telmate Monday circulated a proposal to commissioners wherein those ICS providers agreed to cap interstate and intrastate rates, bar payments to facilities and eliminate 19 types of ancillary charges and cap the rest.
Inmate calling service providers offer large payments to win contracts, so eliminating them as a favor in bidding would lead to a “market-based approach,” in which ICS providers would win contracts based on price and quality, Clyburn said. HRDC advocates are going further, saying the cost to facilities should be considered a part of the cost of running the jail or prison and not passed on to inmates’ friends and family, Friedmann said. He said that only factoring in the minimal cost of providing the service in setting rates, instead of the greater cost of “kickback” payments to facilities, would be an “excellent step forward.” He also praised the setting of intrastate rate caps, saying 85 percent of inmate calls are local calls.
Some of the commissions paid to facilities are used for such “inmate welfare” programs as GED classes that also helps reintegrate prisoners into society after their sentences, American Jail Association Executive Director Robert Kasabian said in an interview. Clyburn acknowledged that. But she said the payments have also gone for such non-prison-related purposes as road projects, and are ultimately borne by inmates’ friends and family.
The commission had hoped states would “follow [the agency’s] lead,” by bringing down intrastate rates, Clyburn said, yet “less than a handful” have taken action. A 15-minute intrastate inmate call in Arkansas, for instance, costs $14.35, she said. The FCC interim interstate cap is 25 cents a minute for a collect call, or 21 cents a minute for debit or prepaid calls. Ancillary charges make up at least 38 percent of the cost of inmate calls, the agency said in a fact sheet, including a $9.50 charge in some places to open an account.
Associations representing counties and states, which bear the cost of running correctional facilities, and some state public utility commissions, which can set intrastate rates, had no comment. ICS providers also had no comment.