Overcharging the most vulnerable

For most prisoners, visitations and phone calls are not only permitted, but encouraged. They tend to keep prisoners hopeful, more connected to the community and less likely to return to prison. So, why do prison authorities around the U.S. contract with companies that horribly overcharge prisoners and their families for calls?

As Politico said, "A typical interstate collect call from prison has a $3.95 connection fee and rates as high as 90 cents per minute, according to civil liberties groups. A 15-minute collect call could cost families $10 to $17 and a one-hour call once a week would cost $250 per month."

"Exorbitant calling rates make the prison telephone industry one of the most lucrative businesses in the United States today," said Drew Kukorowski of the Prison Policy Initiative. As he noted, prison authorities share in this exploitation. "... state prison systems have no incentive to select the telephone company that offers the lowest rates; rather, correctional departments have an incentive to reap the most profit by selecting the telephone company that provides the highest commission."

Seeing as the vast majority of prisoners come from low-income families, charges for these calls are punitive and unconscionable. For a long time, community groups and some legislators have called for an end to this practice. After all, how much do most of us pay for calls these days?

A ray of hope appeared last week when FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn told a rally at the FCC office that Chairman Julius Genachowski circulated a proposal to seek comment on phone rules and rates. Admittedly, that's just a small step, but it is a step.

FCC considers cutting prison phone rates (The Hill, Nov. 15, 2012)

The price to call home: state-sanctioned monopolization in the prison phone industry (Prison Policy Initiative, Sep. 11, 2011)

FCC to look at criminally expensive phone rates for prisoners (Think Progress, Nov. 19, 2012)