By Brian Early
Foster’s Daily Democrat
DOVER — Kevin was released from Strafford County House of Corrections on Wednesday after spending 20 days there on drug-related charges. His mom picked him up.
While in jail, he said he called two people: his mom in Rochester and his girlfriend in Somersworth. Kevin, 27, of Dover, who only provided his first name, said he paid more than $200 for those phone calls. “And it wasn’t a call every day,” he said.
“It’s sad,” said his mother Melissa. “Not a lot of people have money or the support of family to give them money to make calls.”
A 28-year-old Farmington man who wouldn’t give his name said he has been in and out of the county jail since his 18th birthday. He was recently in jail briefly for not making alimony payments. In jail, he would make a call to Dover, which was $3 “and change” for 20 minutes. If he called his parents in New Durham for 20 minutes, it was $15.
Peter, 40, of Dover, who also gave only his first name, was recently released from New Hampshire state prison, but has spent time at the county jail as well.
“It depends on who you call,” he said.
He said family members will often change their cellphone plans so inmates can make cheaper calls.
According to the fee schedule from Strafford County Department of Corrections, the rates are calculated by mileage from the facility. A 20-minute collect call to a Dover phone number would be $3.24. A collect phone call to a New Durham residence would be $7.97, according to the schedule.
Calls from state prison are cheaper, Peter said, with a $3 charge for 60 minutes. “It doesn’t matter who you call, where you call, when you’re calling or how long you’re calling,” he said.
According to the state Department of Corrections website, the cost is 45 cents per minute. An hour-long call would be $2.70.
The Federal Communication Commission will consider a proposal later this month to reduce the cost of calls from prisons to 11 cents per minute from prisons, and between 14 and 22 cents per minute in jails, depending on the population size. The FCC reduced calling rates in 2014. However, many prison phone companies raised fees for in-state calls, which makes up a bulk of the calls, according to a recent New York Times article. The FCC proposal by Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn would also limit fees as well.
Rockingham Department of Corrections Superintendent Stephen Church said his department is keeping an eye on the proposal. Right now the phone system does not cost taxpayers any money, he said. That might change, depending on what the FCC does. The company that operates the phone system sets the rates, the county does not, he said.
According to a fee schedule from the department, the cost of a 15-minute call is $4.67. However, a Rollinsford parent who has a son in the Rockingham jail said it was between $3 to $4 for five minutes if the inmate used their calling card. If the call was collect, it would be $14.95 for up to 15 minutes.
Church said the jail’s phone system, which was installed and operated by Securus Technologies, is expensive. “They are not just regular call systems,” he said. “They are expensive to purchase. They are expensive to run.”
He said his department can get a lot of information from calls that helps keep the public and inmates safe. The system not only tracks phone calls, but records them as well, allowing jail officials to gain intelligence on illicit activity. Church said intelligence gathered from the phone system led to a multi-department investigation and bust in 2009 of a large prescription drug ring in the Seacoast.
“Your regular telephone system would not have done that,” he said.
Bruce Pelkie, superintendent for the Strafford County Department of Corrections, concurs. Strafford uses Inmate Telephone Inc. for their phone system. Pelkie said it can block phone numbers per court orders to crime victims, as well as disallow communication with co-defendants and witnesses. In addition to recording all phone calls, which can be used in court, it also can pick up key words in conversations to alert staff about a potential security issue, Pelkie said.
“We do not operate this system at our taxpayers’ expense,” Pelkie said in an e-mail. “We utilize the revenue we receive from the phone calls to pay for the system and the needed security features and staff. We do not profit from this system, nor do we ask our taxpayers to pay for our inmates’ phone calls.”
While Church acknowledges the phone system is expensive, he said the jail will provide letter-writing materials at no charge and cover the cost of postage for two pieces of mail a week.
“They aren’t stuck without communication,” he said.