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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWright petition passes!!! FCC approves rules to cap prison phone rates
FCC approves rules to cap prison phone rates
By Cecilia Kang, Published: August 9
The Federal Communications Commission on Friday approved rules to overhaul skyrocketing prison phone rates, dealing a blow to the handful of companies that dominate the market.
In a 2 to 1 decision, the agency voted to immediately cap how much prison phone-service providers can charge the recipients of an inmates call at 25 cents per-minute so that a 15-minute long-distance call wont exceed $3.75. The FCC also banned the providers from charging extra fees to connect a call or use a calling card.
The federal order affects a previously unregulated segment of the telecommunications industry and aims to end the explosion of prison calling costs that have reached as much as $20 for a15-minute call in some states.
The order also resolves a decade-long fight by District resident Martha Wright, whose petition to the FCC languished until acting Chairman Mignon Clyburn, a Democrat, revived it last year. Wright, now 86, had fought for changes to the system after she struggled to afford to call her grandson in an Arizona prison.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/fcc-approves-rules-to-reform-prison-phone-rates/2013/08/09/1f7ac512-010d-11e3-9711-3708310f6f4d_story.html
This is great news for prisoners and their families!!!
The Magistrate
(95,237 posts)antigone382
(3,682 posts)...and one that will hopefully have very positive effects on prisoners and their families.
Its been a long, long time coming, Clyburn said at the FCC meeting. She said 2.7 million children have a parent in prison and studies show that active communications between prisoners and their families helps reduce the rate of recidivism.
leftstreet
(36,076 posts)antigone382
(3,682 posts)RKP5637
(67,030 posts)antigone382
(3,682 posts)HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)antigone382
(3,682 posts)catrose
(5,047 posts)The setup fee, the shutdown fee, the low balance fee, the IDon'tLikeYou fee, etc. ad infinitum. And what about the air time that the prisoners pay for during the various announcements? Those companies are as bad as banks for bilking those least able to afford it.
antigone382
(3,682 posts)...should not exceed $3.75. But I am not sure about it. I have no doubt there is more work yet to be done on this issue, and that the companies in question will take this ruling to court and try all methods at their disposal to weasel their way out of it. At the moment, however, it is a significant victory for prisoners and their families.
MotherPetrie
(3,145 posts)antigone382
(3,682 posts)Zorra
(27,670 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)antigone382
(3,682 posts)I would check out updates from "The Nation Inside," a group that works on prison system reform. They are how I heard about the Wright Petition.