Slashdot Mirror
Court Stops FCC's Latest Attempt To Lower Prison Phone Rates (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Prison phone companies have convinced a court to halt new rate caps on inmate calling for the second time this month. The first stay was issued March 7 and prevented the FCC from implementing new rate caps of 11 cents to 22 cents per minute on both interstate and intrastate calls from prisons. But the stay -- which remains in place while the prison phone companies' lawsuit against the FCC is still pending -- did not disturb an earlier "interim" cap of 21 cents to 25 cents per minute that applied only to interstate calls, those that cross state lines. The order also didn't specifically object to the FCC changing its definition of "inmate calling service" to include both interstate and intrastate calls. Seizing on this ambiguity, the FCC decided that it could impose the interim caps on both interstate and intrastate calls. But prison phone companies Securus Technologies, Global Tel Link (GTL), and Telmate all asked the federal appeals court to stop the caps from being applied to intrastate calls. A court order issued Wednesday sided with the prison phone companies, saying that "petitioners have satisfied the stringent requirements for a stay pending court review." As a result, the interim rate caps will still apply only to interstate calls.
Because the for-profit prison industry wouldn't make as much money that way.
They really hate it when they get regulation on a 'captive' market.
They're allowed access to their finances?
They are often able to call collect. When my brother was in prison (for assaulting a police officer) he called me collect several times. Inmates are usually able to work in prison industries for pay. Some prisons do manufacturing. My brother learned how to operate a metal lathe and vertical mill while doing time. Some prisons even run call centers.
Does this create a rift in equality?
Prison is already very unequal.
Why don't they just get an allotment of minutes?
Then the prison has no incentive to keep the phone system operational, and the inmates will have less incentive to work.
Contact to family is important for prisoners, because reducing contact increases risk of ending up in prison again (this is a well documented fact)
Prison administrators, state governments, all have interest in increasing prisons contact with family, why they allow this is beyond my imagination.
Companies offering phone services really ought to not exploit prisoners who don't have any choices (it's simply plain evil - particularly when considering the risk they put those prisoners at).
Why the FCC needs to be involved is beyond my understanding. Are all the prison administrators really that corrupt?
That's a pretty strange slander-lation you got there. I went with a translation instead and found:
The context was that they were under attack and being threatened with death.
Replying anonymously because I'm modding in this thread.
For my friend behind bars, she relies on friends to add money to her account through JPay, a convenient service that takes another 5-10% or more off the top whenever you deposit into the inmate's account.
Until my friend was imprisoned, I had NO IDEA how pervasive rent-seeking and profiteering was in the prison system. It really is a nightmare.
How about: stop making stupid things like drugs illegal? You want to talk conservative policies? Why does BIG GOVERNMENT get to come into my house and tell me what I can and cannot put in my own body?
Only crack the nuts that crack. You don't put the ones that don't crack in the sack.
Not only was his translation slanderous (I found the exact quote from a white supremacist web site), but the the section of the Koran he quotes is from a section that deals with a code of behavior for waging war when war is being waged against you.
You are welcome on my lawn.
They get some money from their families. There are limits on what they can give inmates. They can also earn money from working in programs. American Flags are made in women's low security correctional facilities where they are paid $2 an hour.
Prison is the only form of slavery explicitly allowed by the US constitution. But it's not the only form of slavery. The other is a form of voluntary indentured servitude. It's called the military.
Whoosh.
The OP pointed out that the Qur'an has passages that call for a violent response to non-believers. The GP was pointing out that the Old Testament/Torah have passages that call for the same thing.
There are billions of followers of the three major Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam.) Only a tiny (and IMHO, deluded) fraction of them subscribe to violence as a way to advance their cause.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
But odds are, encouraging socialization (such as by giving them free phone service), especially with non-prisoners, and their family and friends, would decrease recidivism. In which case free phone service for prisoners would pay for itself a thousand-fold.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
decrease recidivism. In which case free phone service for prisoners would pay for itself
And where is the incentive for the prison industry to decrease recidivism? I don't refer to the people "in charge". Politically, there are points to be scored by underlining successful reformations; however, there are so many more points to be scored through PROFITS.