Securus Hits Clyburn Remark on ICS Charges; Provider, Inmate Advocates Trade Fire on Deal

Clyburn reported to have said some families were charged "as much as $25 per minute" for local inmate calling service (ICS) calls. "I hope that your remarks were reported inaccurately, because I am quite sure that no inmate provider has ever charged a per-minute rates anywhere near that level for any kind of call, let alone local. It has to be an error or an extreme outlier," he said in a letter to Clyburn posted in docket 12-375. At the BDAC meeting Thursday, Clyburn criticized exclusive ICS arrangements that she said imposed high costs on inmate families (see 1707200014). The Clyburn spokesman said she "was attempting to highlight the egregious practice of charging almost $25 for a 15-minute call. She inadvertently stated that said call would cost $25 per minute. Nonetheless, this rate and reports of calls being as high as $14 per minute highlight the fact that inmates can and are paying several thousand percent more than a non-incarcerated person.” Meanwhile, Securus, SCRS Acquisition and the Wright Petitioners continued to exchange fire on the ICS provider's planned sale to SCRS, which is under FCC review. Securus and SCRS disputed the inmate family advocates' previous arguments, said a filing Tuesday on a meeting with staffers for Chairman Ajit Pai and the Wireline Bureau. But the Wright Petitioners filed further information they said supports an FCC "pause" to investigate whether certain Securus practices violated the law. The parties have made various filings in recent days in docket 17-126.