Inmate calling service provider Securus lost a battle at the FCC Thursday. The Wireline Bureau denied its request to be able to block VoIP calls to services such as ConsCallHome, which uses VoIP routing to offer numbers local to the prison, reducing costs to make the call. Acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn commended the bureau’s order, and called such services “innovative” and likely to reduce recidivism. “Call blocking is largely antithetical to the fundamental goal of ubiquity and reliability of the telecommunications network,” said the order (http://fcc.us/14MlyDE).
The FCC has approved the transfer of control of Securus’s operating subsidiaries from one holding company to another, but not before Securus agreed to stop blocking inmate-initiated calls placed via “ConsCallHome.” In so doing, the FCC rejected a petition to deny filed by several public interest groups. VoIP provider Millicorp, which runs ConsCallHome, had supported that challenge, arguing Securus was illegally blocking calls to competitive VoIP providers in violation of Sections 201(b) and 202 of the Communications Act, and the FCC’s policy prohibiting call blocking. Millicorp withdrew its opposition after Securus agreed Friday to stop the call blocking.
Inmate calling services and prisoners’ rights groups continued to battle over the proper per-minute rate for calls from jail, in reply comments filed in docket 12-353 Monday and Tuesday. The two largest inmate calling service (ICS) providers, Global Tel*Link and Securus, argued that the commission lacks authority to implement the requested rate reductions, which could bring rates down to 7 cents per minute for interstate calls. Prison rights groups and the Congressional Black Caucus urged action. A December NPRM sought comment on whether to regulate ICS rates, and how to do so without sacrificing security (CD Dec 31 p6).
Broadband’s a civil right to Jesse Jackson, Sr., as are prison payphone rates, he said Tuesday in an annual ethics in telecom lecture. He cited many concerns voiced a day before by FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn on what prisoners and the people they call must pay. “Access to broadband at home and school is not a magic bullet” to solve a gap in education between minorities and other Americans, Jackson said. It’s “a civil rights issue” because “the technology is being positioned as a primary driver of economic opportunity” and social change, he said at the Washington event.
Technology that forms a radio frequency umbrella intercepting cellphone transmissions inside the Mississippi State Penitentiary should serve as a model for other states, FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief Jamie Barnett said Wednesday. He toured the Mississippi prison accompanied by Chris Epps, state Department of Corrections commissioner, and officials from Global Tel*Link and Tecore Networks, which supplied the technology. The technology is not only lawful but “specifically targets the problem at hand without jeopardizing other essential” communications, including making 911 calls, Barnett said. “Because Mississippi is the first to deploy a managed access system, we at the FCC … spent long hours working with the vendor and wireless carriers to develop and implement the necessary regulatory steps for this novel application,” he said. “We are cautiously optimistic that this technology, perhaps coupled with other applications and approaches, will prove effective in addressing this national problem. I'd like to see what you've accomplished here in Mississippi extended to other state and federal prisons.”