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!