Support continues for bipartisan legislation supported by sole Republican co-sponsor U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) that would bring competition to the market for inmate calling rates at American prison facilities.
More than two dozen criminal justice leaders and civil rights organizations this month expressed their support for the Inmate Calling Technical Corrections Act of 2018, S. 2520, sponsored on March 8 by U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL).
“The Inmate Calling Technical Corrections Act would clarify Congress’ intent that the Federal Communications Commission protect all consumers and prevent these outrageous rates that negatively impact the safety of all people in the United States,” according to their Oct. 4 letter, which was sent to U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-SD), chairman of the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, and U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), chairman of the committee’s Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet Subcommittee.
“We write to you as organizations and individuals that represent a wide variety of views on many issues, but that stand united on the need to reduce the exorbitant rates for telephone calls from prisons,” they wrote to Senate committee leaders.
If enacted, S. 2520 would amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to ensure charges for payphone service are just and reasonable, according to the congressional record summary, which cited payphone services as those including “the provision of public or semipublic pay telephones and inmate telephone service and advanced communications services in correctional institutions.”
The senators introduced S. 2520 following a federal court’s decision that the Communications Act authorizes the FCC to regulate interstate prison calls, but doesn’t clearly direct the commission to address intrastate prison telecommunication services, according to a statement released on Oct. 18 by Sen. Portman.
“Unjust and unreasonable charges negatively impact the safety and security of communities in the United States by exacerbating recidivism and damaging relationships between people in prison and their support systems,” the officials and leaders wrote. “The Federal Communications Commission possesses the expertise to take a hard look at the costs of providing telephone service in order to ensure just and reasonable rates for all telephone calls and fees in the absence of competition.”
For example, according to their letter, the “extraordinarily high” cost of telephone calls from incarcerated people in some cities in the United States “could cost a grandmother or a pastor $25 for a 15-minute phone call to jail,” while “a mother attempting to continue her children’s relationship with their incarcerated father could be charged $40 for a 40-minute remote video call.” A pastor who wanted to deposit money into a prepaid account, they wrote, also “could be forced to pay more than $3 in fees to deposit $5 into the account.”
The letter writers pointed out that inmate calling rates and fees can’t be reduced through market forces because consumers can’t choose the telephone company they use to communicate with prisons. “Prisons and jails often select telephone companies based on which company will offer the highest fee or commission to the correctional institution,” according to the letter. “Therefore, many prisons and jails choose the most expensive service and the costs are passed on to inmates’ families in the form of higher telephone rates.”
The letter signers included several individuals, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union; Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC); Interfaith Action for Human Rights; the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights; the NAACP; the National Urban League; and the Prison Policy Initiative, among others.
S. 2520 is under consideration by the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.