The New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute joined numerous public interest groups in submitting comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with regard to prison phone rates. Read the full text of the comments (pdf) here.
Executive Summary
The Asian American Justice Center, the Center for Media Justice, Communications Workers of America, Free Press, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, National Council of La Raza, National Hispanic Media Coalition, National Organization for Women Foundation, National Urban League, New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge, and the United Church of Christ Office of Communications Inc. (collectively, “The Phone Justice Commenters”) respectfully submit these comments in response to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) considering rates for interstate interexchange inmate calling services (ICS). We appreciate the Commission’s action on two long unresolved petitions for rulemaking: 2007’s Alternative Wright Petition and its predecessor filed in 2003, the First Wright Petition. We urge the Commission to keep up its momentum, move swiftly to evaluate input from all commenters, and promulgate the necessary rule changes to secure just and reasonable interstate ICS rates for prisoners and their loved ones back home. Specifically, the Commission should cap ICS rates at the lowest possible per-minute rate that is justified by providers’ costs. Furthermore, the Commission should eliminate needless per-call fees and other unjustifiable fees, such as fees to deposit money into an account. Such steps will make it possible for inmates to maintain connections with their families and friends, facilitate their reentry into society, reduce recidivism, and consequently strengthen communities and the nation as a whole.
Section 201(b) of the Communications Act and the Act’s payphone provisions grant the Commission clear authority to regulate ICS rates. Prison phone providers are common carriers and therefore have a duty to provide service at just and reasonable rates. In cases like the instant one, in which carriers run afoul of this duty, the Commission has a specific mandate to right the carriers’ courses.
As has been demonstrated in the record developed in the Wright proceedings over the past ten years, phone calls made from correctional facilities are often exorbitantly high-priced. The main factors contributing to such high rates are excessive commissions paid by ICS providers to state prison systems. In return for these payments, states grant exclusive contracts to the carriers, creating a monopoly within individual facilities. These arrangements preclude competition from driving down prices. What is more, inmates’ and their families’ inelastic demand for communications services and corporate consolidation among ICS providers further exacerbate the problem. As a result, a fifteen-minute call typically costs upwards of $15. Given that most incarcerated persons hail from low-income communities, their families simply cannot afford to receive such calls, and must make hard choices about whether to keep in touch with their loved ones or put food on the table.
Ensuring that inmates can maintain ties with their families and communities is imperative to advancing the public interest. Regular contact with loved ones greatly improves ex-offenders’ chances for successful reentry into society. Reentry cannot be divorced from recidivism and recidivism cannot be divorced from high incarceration rates. Policies that inhibit effective reentry contribute to high recidivism, which contributes to higher crime and re-incarceration rates. And because of the disproportionate representation of African Americans, Latinos, and low-income individuals within the U.S. prison system, civil rights considerations are implicated. Exorbitant ICS rates do not just impact those who are confined by prison walls. When inmates cannot maintain ties with home, the consequences are felt by their families, their communities, and the entire country. For too long, prison telephone operators have been allowed to prey on the innocent and those who most need protection. The Phone Justice Commenters urge the Commission to act expediently to address the unreasonably high rates that consumers pay for interstate ICS.
