By Peter Dujardin
Daily Press
NEWPORT, Va. — A federal agency has put strict caps on what prisoners nationwide have to pay to make long-distance phone calls, in a new rule that will sharply reduce the costs to Virginia inmates for calling out of state.
Last week, the Federal Communications Commission rejected a request from two phone companies — including the one that runs Virginia’s inmate calling system — to delay the new rule’s implementation. The new rule will go into effect on Feb. 13.
In handing down the rate-cap order in August, the FCC called it a “long-overdue step” to make interstate calling rates more fair, adding that the free market “is failing to protect the inmates and families who pay these charges.”
“The (Federal) Communications Act requires that interstate rates be just and reasonable for all Americans — there is no exception in the statute for those who are incarcerated or their families,” the FCC’s order said. “Evidence in our record demonstrates that inmate phone rates today vary widely, and in far too many cases greatly exceed the reasonable costs of providing the service.”
The FCC said studies have shown that more phone calls home help prisoners to become more productive citizens — and less likely to commit crimes — upon their release. The agency also added that millions of children of imprisoned inmates can greatly benefit from phone conversations with their incarcerated parents.
While the FCC’s new order caps the rates only for out-of-state calls, the agency is seeking comments by Dec. 13 on whether it should also limit the costs of long distance inmate phone calls within the state. Such a move would mean an even broader reduction in costs.
The new rate caps are a significant victory for prison reform advocates, who have long asserted that the high phone rates paid by inmates’ families are not only counterproductive, but cost many poor and modest-income families substantially.
The Virginia chapter of Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants, or CURE, which has long pushed to reduce the charges, hailed the FCC’s actions.
“We are very happy to see the FCC decision because it signals a sea change the way people are looking at this,” said Carla Peterson, the director of CURE’s Virginia chapter, based in Alexandria. “There’s nothing like hearing your loved one’s voice over the phone. Family connections are very important for people.”
Under the new rules, a 15-minute long distance call from a correctional facility to an out-of-state location is capped at 21 cents a minute for pre-paid calls and 25 cents a minute for collect calls.
Under those rates, for example, a 15-minute out-of-state is limited to $3.15 if pre-paid, and to $3.75 if it’s a collect call.
That’s less than half what Virginia inmates and their families are currently paying. Virginia’s inmates and their families are now paying $8.40 for a 15-minute call if paying pre-paid and $8.85 if the call is collect, according to a list of state rates nationwide from the Campaign to Promote Equitable Telephone Charges, which is run by CURE’s Michigan chapter.
Those rates are under a contract between the Department of Corrections and Global Tel*Link — one of the two providers that unsuccessfully asked the FCC to delay the new rule.
On Tuesday, Virginia Department of Corrections spokeswoman Lisa E. Kinney confirmed those figures, saying the rates are 40 cents a minute prepaid and 43 cents collect, in addition to a $2.40 surcharge per call.
But under the contract with Global Tel*Link, the state shares in the phone company’s revenue, with millions of dollars per year from the calls flowing into state coffers. That’s under the theory that it’s only fair that state prisoners and their families should help pay for the inmates’ keep and offset the burden on taxpayers.
Virginia gets about $3 million to $4 million a year from the inmate phone system, said Dick Hickman, a deputy staff director of the Senate Finance Committee. He referred the Daily Press to the Department of Planning and Budget for the exact figure, but that office could not be reached by press time for this story.
There’s a huge disparity among the states in the fees that inmates have to pay to call long distance.
According to the Campaign to Promote Equitable Telephone Charges, a 15-minute interstate collect call ranges from a total cost of 59 cents in New Mexico, 72 cents in New York and 75 cents in Missouri, to highs of about $17 in Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Minnesota, Ohio.
The national average is $7.87.
The FCC lauded some states, such as New Mexico and New York, for cutting their rates. “Following such reforms, there is significant evidence that call volumes increased, which shows the direct correlation of how these reforms promote the ability of inmates to stay connected with their loved ones,” the agency’s order said.
But Peterson, with CURE, said a lot more work needs to be done, and that calls within Virginia also need rate caps.
She pointed out that many of the prisons in Virginia are in remote parts of the state, but many of the prisoners are from city areas, including Hampton Roads. For example, a 15-minute long distance call from a Virginia prison to a long distance location in Virginia costs $5.20 with a pre-paid card or $6 collect.
Peterson said her organization is pushing to reduce those rates through both legislative action and Depart of Corrections policy changes.