PETITION CLOSED

  • The time period for signing this petition has ended.
Give Us Fair & Reasonable Prison Phone Rates!
  1. Signatures
    176 out of 500
    Petitioning
    1. Federal Communications Commission (Consumer Comments)
  2. Created By
    Michael Hamden
    Chapel Hill, NC
About this Petition Petition Letter Petition Updates

The families, friends, and lawyers of prisoners pay outrageous sums of money to talk with incarcerated people. Because of special arrangements between correctional facilities and telephone service providers, prisoner telephone calls are unjustifiably expensive, and costs are exacerbated by policies that permit collect only calling, for example. 

These ever-escalating costs are driven by “commissions” (as high as 60% of all revenue) paid by telephone service providers to correctional facilities and agencies.  In exchange, the telephone companies are allowed to provide exclusive services, thus eliminating all competition and leaving prisoners and their families no alternative to abusive policies and pricing-practices.

A petition currently before the Federal Communications Commission asks the FCC to exercise its legal authority to protect consumers from this exploitation by regulating the prison pay phone industry to ensure that fair and reasonable rates are charged on each and every in-state and out-of-state phone call.

Please lend your support to this effort by signing this petition!  A copy of the petition will be filed with the FCC and will be brought to the attention of the decision-makers in that agency.  Unless we succeed in demonstrating enough public interest and support for comprehensive regulation to stop these practices, change will never come.

Additional information is available at www.HamdenConsulting.com, and you can write to the FCC directly by addressing your letter to: Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary, Federal Communications Commission, 445 12th Street, S W Washington, DC  20554.

Thank you for standing against this injustice!

 

Why People Are Signing
Recent Signatures

Prison Pay Phone Abuses - C.C. Docket 96-128

Dear Ms. Dortch:

When I speak with a prisoner by phone, I am charged outrageously high rates. In addition, certain billing practices and policies regarding prepaid accounts are unconscionable.

It seems clear that the primary reason rates are so high is because of the commissions paid to correctional officials. These commissions are an unfair tax on families of prisoners, many of whom cannot afford these excessive rates.

The need for comprehensive regulation of the prison payphone industry is clear and urgent. This nationwide exploitation cannot be remedied by state utilities commissions because the practices extend beyond the limits of their jurisdictions. Meanwhile, vulnerable consumers are shamelessly exploited by business practices that spiral out of the control of even industry executives.

The FCC has legal authority to put a halt to this endless price escalation through comprehensive regulation of the prison payphone industry. Indeed, as I understand it, the Commission is charged with a duty to protect consumers. For the hundreds of thousands of people who must choose between speaking with an incarcerated loved one and meeting basic living expenses during a time of financial desperation, the FCC's intercession is crucial.

The FCC can establish a framework for fair and reasonable industry practices by prohibiting the payment of "commissions" and eliminating all other means (such as hidden fees) to unjustifiably inflate the cost of prisoner phone calls. In addition, prison phone companies should be required to offer fair rates on the broadest possible range of calling options consistent with the security needs of a correctional facility. To accomplish this, the FCC should adopt cost-based, "benchmark" rates (which will provide a measurement of whether rates are fair and reasonable) for all intrastate and interstate prisoner collect, prepaid, and debit telephone calls. The benchmark rates should cover legitimate security costs
and provide a reasonable rate of return to prison phone providers so that there will be incentives for businesses to provide these services.

Finally, when a service provider claims that a remote location or other considerations require a rate adjustment, the FCC should leave jurisdiction with the state public utilities commissions which will be best positioned to rule on such matters consistently with guidance provided by the Commission.

But whether by these or some other measures, fair and reasonable rates for the widest possible range of prisoner-initiated telephone calls must be mandated by the FCC. Experience has shown that in the absence of meaningful competition, the market place simply cannot function as it does in other contexts to benefit consumers.

Please make sure fair telephone rates will be made available for all prisoner calls, everywhere. Thank you for your kind consideration.

[Your name]

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