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.

Comments

Re:Where do inmates get money for calls?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because the for-profit prison industry wouldn't make as much money that way.

Companies hate regulation

[Anonymous Coward]

They really hate it when they get regulation on a 'captive' market.

Re:Companies hate regulation

[rahvin112]

And the people making the choice of provider are doing so with interests that are entirely contradictory to their own. Prison phone rates are one of the ways we fuck people over we've already incarcerated. And the best thing is recidivism rates go up the less contact people have with their families while in prison. So these polices increase recidivism.

As an aside they are also a state contract that is VERY easy to turn into corrupt slush money with the selected contract phone company paying the selectors bribes. The entire prison phone system is corrupt and it should be regulated heavily with flat rate price limits based on independent studies of costs.

This is evil, and incompetence at so many levels

[jopsen]

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?

Re:Where do inmates get money for calls?

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Where do inmates get money for calls?

[SumDog]

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.