Industry and advocates disagreed whether the FCC should include ancillary fees or security and surveillance costs in inmate calling services rates, in comments posted Tuesday in docket 12-375 (see 2105200044). Security and surveillance costs "are neither necessary for the provision of communication services nor do they serve [ICS] consumers or the general public," said Worth Rises. There's "no reason that the staff time of a correctional officer should be reflected in rates for phone service, and security and surveillance should not be a profit center," said the United Church of Christ, New America's Open Technology Institute, Free Press, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, National Consumer Law Center and Public Knowledge. Global Tel*Link and the National Sheriffs Association (NSA) disagreed. Facilities' costs "must include the security and surveillance costs" for providing ICS, said GTL. NSA said some security and administrative tasks are "directly related to and necessary for the provision of inmate calling services." The Prison Policy Initiative asked the FCC to prohibit revenue-sharing agreements between providers and third-party financial institutions. "We do not understand the justification for an ancillary charge in this circumstance above $3.00 and as high as $6.95" for single-call services, said NASUCA. Ensure sufficient cost recovery for facilities if site commissions are regulated, said Pay Tel. Securus backed "phasing out" site commissions from rates and "eliminating duplicative ancillary service charges." NCIC asked the FCC to consider NSA's 2015 data that suggested relying on facilities-based ICS costs rather than provider-generated proposals to develop permanent ICS rates. PPI said NSA's study "suffers from a plethora of problems." Consider how other states are adopting intrastate rates, said the California Public Utilities Commission: Those rates "are multiple times lower than the FCC's proposed interstate rate caps," and the agency should consider if its proposed caps are too high "in light of the ICS providers’ assertions that they incur little to no cost differential to provide interstate versus intrastate calling services." Commenters overwhelmingly backed efforts to expand access to telecom relay services for deaf and hard of hearing incarcerated people. Publicize "the importance of facilities and ICS providers asking individuals whether they require TRS upfront," asked Hamilton Relay. It may not be "administratively feasible" to allow incarcerated individuals to choose their IP captioned telephone service provider, said ClearCaptions. Amend TRS rules "to the maximal extent necessary" to limit barriers to access to communications services for deaf and hard of hearing incarcerated people, said a coalition that included Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Communications Services for the Deaf, Hearing Loss Association of America, and National Disability Rights Network. Prohibit ICS providers from charging for "all forms of TRS calls," they said.
Inmate calling service providers could shift costs to video calling if the California Public Utilities Commission caps only voice rates, said public advocates Wednesday at a CPUC prehearing conference. After last month capping voice intrastate ICS rates at 7 cents a minute on an interim basis (see 2108190046), the commission is preparing for a phase two that might include rates for text and video services, despite some ICS providers disagreeing they're under the agency’s jurisdiction. Some providers sought a several-month delay so the effectiveness of new interim rates can be analyzed.
Global Tel*Link must produce information about video calling services even before the California Public Utilities Commission decides if it has jurisdiction over such services, ruled Assigned Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves and Administrative Law Judge Cathleen Fogel Monday in an inmate calling services rulemaking (docket 20-10-002). The CPUC’s independent Public Advocates Office asked the commission to order GTL to respond to its discovery request. The company claimed video calling was outside the CPUC’s jurisdiction, limiting PAO discovery rights. “Like any other tribunal, the Commission has jurisdiction to determine its own jurisdiction, and to develop the facts necessary to make that determination,” the commissioner and ALJ ruled before a Wednesday pre-hearing conference. “Because this is ... a novel issue for the Commission, the information sought by Public Advocates may help us answer the jurisdictional question.” Even if material sought isn’t admissible, GTL hasn’t shown it couldn’t “lead to the discovery of admissible evidence,” they said. GTL declined to comment.
California Public Utilities Commission members unanimously supported reducing inmate calling services rates, at a virtual Thursday meeting. Commissioners voted 5-0 to adopt a proposed interim ICS order capping intrastate rates at 7 cents per minute for debit, prepaid and collect calls, and prohibiting some fees. ICS providers will have 45 days to reduce rates. A day earlier, at the first meeting of the California Middle-Mile Advisory Committee, state legislators questioned the CPUC’s approach to locating nodes of an upcoming open-access network.
California regulators should reject prison-phone provider claims that a competitive market is already bringing reduced intrastate rates, consumer groups said in Monday reply comments in docket R.20-10-002. They responded to Global Tel*Link (GTL) and Securus telling the California Public Utilities Commission earlier this month that proposed limits on inmate calling service (ICS) rates and some fees are illegal (see 2108030041). A 7 cent cap would be “just and reasonable,” said the CPUC’s Public Advocates Office (PAO). GTL and Securus arguments that the interim rules wouldn't allow them to recover costs are “invalid,” the PAO said. It plans to meet by videoconference Thursday with aides to President Marybel Batjer and Commissioner Darcie Houck, and Friday with aides to Commissioner Cliff Rechtschaffen, the public advocate said in filings Monday and Tuesday. The Center for Accessible Technology urged the CPUC to reject ICS provider arguments that they lack market power. “That ... providers cannot set prices as high as they might like is not evidence that the market is competitive.” The proposed decision “properly views the market through the lens of the end-user, who has no choice of IPCS [incarcerated persons calling services] service provider,” replied The Utility Reform Network: Provider “arguments claim theoretical negotiation dynamics and restrictions on rate changes within the RFP process but lack the end-user perspective entirely.” The Prison Policy Initiative said “numerous factors other than market competition can lead to lower calling rates: facilities may demand or encourage carriers to offer lower rates; legislative bodies may require lower rates; carriers or facilities may simply want the administrative ease of a uniform rate structure for inter- and intrastate calling; carriers may lower voice calling rates and compensate by boosting revenue through unregulated services that are bundled in the same contract.” A 7 cent rate “is feasible for all facilities ... based on existing lower rates in facilities with populations less than 500 people” in other states, including local jails in Maryland, New Jersey and Washington state, said the Californians for Jail and Prison Phone Justice Coalition. Providers repeated their opposition to the interim plan. “The arbitrarily low single-rate cap and limits on ancillary service fees are unworkable and unlawful,” and would “undermine the substantial progress” made through competition, commented GTL. The CPUC may vote Aug. 19 on the draft order.
Inmate calling service providers rejected proposed California limits on intrastate rates and some fees. The California Public Utilities Commission received comments Monday on an interim order, up for a possible Aug. 19 vote, that would include a cap of 7 cents per minute on intrastate rates for debit, prepaid and collect calls (see 2107130047). Consumer groups supported the plan and urged the CPUC to next seek ways to reduce video call and text-messaging costs. Also, the CPUC teed up implementation of the state’s $6 billion broadband law.
Inmate calling services providers asked FCC staff to revise part of a draft order to cut ICS rates ahead of commissioners' meeting Thursday, per filings posted Friday in docket 12-375 (see 2105120031). Securus asked to let providers "establish pilot programs for interstate calls," citing its six ongoing pilots in county jails and one state prison. It asked for different alternative rate structures. NCIC asked to clarify "the transaction fee cap will continue to be $3" for single-service calls or "completely prohibit transaction fees for single calls." Changes to the rate caps should become effective on the same day, Global Tel*Link asked in conversations with commissioners' staff. GTL sought to revise the draft suggesting the company "failed to keep its books and records in a certain manner."
Some inmate calling services providers and advocates back FCC-proposed interim rate caps for interstate and international ICS calls (see 2104280084), said those who spoke with us recently. Some said the commission didn’t go far enough and needs to clarify how site commission payments factor into the new rates. Don't look for big changes between the proposal released April 29 and what commissioners vote for at their May 20 meeting, one official said.
Big inmate calling service providers denied they have ICS monopolies, in Friday California Public Utilities Commission comments. Verizon and consumer groups said inmates can’t choose. Comments in docket R.20-10-002 were on a staff proposal to temporarily adopt FCC 2013 interstate ICS rate caps for intrastate rates, or any new caps the FCC adopts, until the CPUC adopts permanent rates. "That the result of the competitive RFP process results in a sole provider is no indication that ICS providers are monopolists empowered to charge excessive rates,” Securus commented. Global Tel*Link (GTL) said that “the market arises from competition between ICS providers to supply ICS to correctional facilities via a competitive bidding process conducted by the governmental bodies that oversee these institutions.” Verizon, which no longer sells ICS service, wrote that “given that inmates have no other options in service provider, there are certainly monopolistic characteristics.” Inmates lack choice but "the nature of the specialized service in issue distinguishes it" from utility monopolies, said PayTel. “Providers compete, vigorously, for the right to provide service to inmates in confinement facilities, and, in the absence of the agreement of the facility, have no right or ability to provide service to inmates.” The Californians for Jail and Prison Phone Justice Coalition noted a “duopoly,” with Securus and GTL controlling 82% of the market. Securus and GTL said they’re committed to lowering rates. High prices at some jails reflect a provider's internal costs and requirements of "correctional agencies for revenue in the form of site commissions,” Securus said. Intrastate rates above FCC interstate caps “are a consequence of the unique needs of correctional facilities, as determined by the governmental bodies that oversee them,” GTL said. The CPUC should “accord correctional facilities, and the governmental bodies that oversee them, the ‘wide-ranging deference’ necessary to execute the unique arrangements critical to institutional efficiency and security.” The California commission should reduce rates to 5 cents per minute for intrastate voice calls, less than the staff proposal, said the CPUC Public Advocates Office. Current rates in 132 out of 214 California jails are at or below the proposal’s 21 cents interim cap, but a 5 cents cap would benefit people incarcerated in 82 facilities, it said. Incarcerated people and their families told a commission hearing last week rates are too high (see 2104290034).
California rates are too high for inmate calling services, which are a lifeline for incarcerated people and their families, the California Public Utilities Commission was told at a Wednesday hearing. Those incarcerated and their loved ones dialed in to share how ICS pricing disconnected families. Some suggested charging monthly rates for unlimited usage, while others want the calls free.