If no one you know is in prison, you may not even be aware of this inhumane practice. But the era of of telecom providers charging high rates to incarcerated people and their families may soon be over, according to the Federal Communications Commission. The regulatory agency says it is set to “end exorbitant” call charges next month. Via CBS News:
The FCC’s proposed rules would significantly lower existing per-minute rate caps for out-of-state and international audio calls from correctional facilities, and apply those rate caps to in-state audio calls, the agency announced Wednesday. The FCC on July 18 “will vote to end exorbitant phone and video call rates that have burdened incarcerated people and their families for decades,” it stated in a Wednesday news release.
“Congress empowered the FCC to close the final loopholes in the communications system which has had detrimental effects on families and recidivism rates nationwide,” the FCC said of the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act, signed by President Biden early last year.
If adopted, callers in large jails using a single service to make a 15-minute audio call would pay 90 cents rather than as much as $11.35 under the rate caps and charges in effect today, and callers in a small jail would pay $1.35 rather than the $12.10 billed today for that 15 minutes of phone time, the FCC said.
Prisoners who have regular contact with their families tend to be better behaved than prisoners who don’t. So there’s at least one good reason to make it more likely.
