Interstate prison phone calls will be LESS expensive after FCC votes 2 to 1 on rate reductions

We were happy to read that interstate prison phone calls will be less expensive! The Federal Communications Commission voted 2 to 1 on Friday to reduce telephone rate inmates and their families pay for interstate prison phone calls.  Civil rights organizations have been demanding this change for a long time; unfortunately it will take 120 days for the change to go into effect.  Regulations will need to be written concerning application of the change.

Currently many prisons grant exclusive deals to telephone providers in exchange to extremely high commissions that sometimes add up to 88% of the actual cost of the call. Currently, interstate prison phone calls cost exceed a $1 per minute.

The commissioners also voted to impose a cap of 25 cents per minute on collect calls and 21 cents a minute for prepaid or debit card calls.  This change alone means, that in the future, interstate prison phone calls in some locations will cost a forth of the current rate. The proposed changes by the Commission will prevent service providers from recovering the cost of the commissions they pay for long-distance, interstate prison phone call.

“This is a means to help strengthen families,” FCC Acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn told CNN Money before the vote took place. “Communication is key particularly when families are separated.”

As you can well imagine, the telephone providers are not happy, “It’s not realistic to compare normal, everyday call rates to what happens with an inmate call,” said Mr. Hansen who is one of the telephone providers. “They’re just not typical phone services — we have to monitor and save and track every communication that’s done by an inmate, and that requires pretty advanced systems.”

As far as I am concerned, this change is a good change, families will have a greater opportunity to speak with their loved ones who are incarcerated and in return inmates will have a better chance to maintain contact with their families.  Although the service providers are expressing their unhappiness with the move, if the FCC prevails families will benefit from the savings and that is a good thing.

About Martin E. Regan, Jr.

Year after year, Martin E. Regan Jr., the firm’s senior partner, has dedicated tireless efforts on behalf of the accused and produce wins for clients that a less determined advocate would have thought hopeless.  Martin E. Regan Jr.’s ability to tackle and win tough criminal cases has resulted in verdicts of acquittal in many highly publicized trials.