In today’s
polarized political climate, it is rare to see groups from traditionally
opposite ends of the spectrum come together in support of an issue. However,
when it comes to keeping families connected and their ability to maintain
relationships, groups from both the left and right are meeting in the middle.
Earlier today
(May 18), a coalition of civil rights groups, media reform advocates, and
conservative leaders joined together on a letter to urge the FCC to act on a
petition which addresses the high cost of prison phone calls for families. The
coalition included civil rights groups such as The Leadership Conference on
Civil and Human Rights, the NAACP, the National Council of La Raza, Public
Knowledge, Free Press and Center for Media Justice to name a few. Conservative
signers included David Keene, former chairman of the American Conservative
Union and Pat Nolan, president of the Justice Fellowship.
While civil
rights groups are concerned with how these practices affect communities of
color who account for a disproportionate amount of the prison population,
conservatives highlight concerns for society as a whole.
Former chairman
of American Conservative Union, David Keene said, “This makes no sense. This
does nothing to further the safety of civil society. It does nothing to help
rehabilitate those people who have been removed from that society as a
result of criminal convictions. And in fact, it makes it less likely that these
people will even be able to reintegrate themselves as useful citizens.”
The goal of the
letter is bring attention to the lack of progress on a 2007 petition that urges
the FCC to cap interstate prison phone rates in order to provide financial
relief for families of prisoners. These families are innocent parties who often
must make difficult decisions between staying connected with loved ones behind
bars over other financial priorities.
Wade Henderson, CEO
of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights said that, “small
gestures that keep love and friendships growing, like a phone call on Mother’s
Day or wishing happy birthday to your kids, are often the only way for many
inmates to keep those close relationships alive. But many prisons don’t view
these precious ties as rehabilitative or lifesaving. Instead, they view them as
revenue generators – ways to pad their bottom line. This issue transcends party
and ideology. We collectively represent millions of American households who are
committed to reforming this outrageous and predatory practice.”
Public Knowledge is
concerned with the practice of commissions that lead to exorbitant rates in a
system with little to no competition. Despite the different concerns that bring
people together on this issue, all are in agreement in the need for immediate
reform as explained by amalia deloney, “This is a fight for the right to call
home! Phones are a vital part of our communication system and something most of
us take for granted. Yet for incarcerated individuals, phone calls and
the connection they provide are treated as an expensive privilege rather than a
basic right”.
Here is the text of
the letter:
May 18, 2012
CAP INTERSTATE PRISON PHONE RATES
Chairman Julius Genachowski
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street, SW
Washington, DC 20554
RE: Docket No.
96-128, Petitioner Martha Wright et al.,
Alternative Rulemaking Proposal
Dear Chairman Genachowski:
We write to you as organizations and
individuals that represent a wide variety of views on many issues, but that
stand united on the need to reduce the exorbitant rates for telephone calls
from prisons. Unreasonably high prison phone rates unjustly punish the families
of people who are incarcerated, and contribute to rising recidivism rates by
deterring regular telephone contact with family members and loved ones. Our
diverse groups strongly believe that action on a petition that has been pending
before the Federal Communications Commission since 2003 represents a critical
opportunity for the Commission to exert its leadership in this area.
Accordingly, we urge you to act quickly to address this problem by capping the
charges that can be imposed for interstate prison phone calls.
As you are aware from the record that
has been compiled at the FCC, the costs of telephone calls from incarcerated
people are often extraordinarily high—well beyond what most people in our
country pay for telephone service. It is cheaper to call Singapore at 12 cents
a minute from a cell phone than it would be to speak to someone in prison in
this country. A typical interstate collect call from a prison has a $3.95
connection fee (regardless of the length of the call), while rates per minute
can be as high as almost 90 cents per
minute. This can result in charges of $10-17 for a 15-minute collect call
or $250 per month for a weekly one-hour call. Prisoners do not bear these
costs; rather it is the family members and loved ones outside of prison who pay
these extremely high rates.
The high rates are caused by the system
used to procure telephone service at correctional institutions. Prisons request
bids from competing telephone companies, requiring each bid to include the
payment of a fee or commission to the prison in addition to the provision of
telephone service. The costs of the calls are passed on to prisoners’ families
in the form of higher telephone rates, while the prison reaps the benefit of
the extra fees and commissions. Thus, prisons have every incentive to
choose bids that maximize fees and maximize telephone rates—a clear “moral
hazard.” While competition would be everyone’s first choice for constraining
telephone prices, in this case consumers—prisoners and their families—have no
voice in the selection of the carrier. The prison system that does select the
carrier actually benefits from the higher rates, leaving the actual consumers
as a literally captive market, unable to shop around for lower prices.
Healthy relationships with their
families and other members of the community are the most important factor in
prisoners’ successful return to their neighborhood. Maintaining the bonds of a
family and support network is a very effective way to reduce recidivism among
inmates, which is an important national goal. The rate of recidivism is at
crisis levels in the U.S.; within three years of being released, 67 percent of
ex-prisoners re-offend and 52 percent are re-incarcerated. Americans are paying
dearly for this trend. According to the Pew Center on the States, state and
federal spending on corrections has grown 400 percent over the past 20 years,
from about $12 billion to about $60 billion. Yet, predatory phone rates
discourage regular telephone contact with stable family members and others in
the community.
Prisoners’ friends and families often
provide the only opportunity incarcerated individuals will have to re-connect
with a job and a support network that can prevent them from returning to
prison. We need more people connecting to those in prison, not fewer. Sound
public policy dictates that we should not disincentivize the very behavior that
will help us keep families together and in turn reduce future crime.
It does not have to be this way. The
U.S. Bureau of Prisons and several states that have rejected these commission
payments charge reasonable rates and maintain superior levels of security. A
recent study by the Government Accountability Office found that the Bureau of
Prisons typically charged less than most state prison systems, yet continued to
produce some profit for use by the prison, and also met its security
objectives. To illustrate, the Bureau of Prisons charged 6 cents per minute for
local calls and 23 cents per minute for long-distance calls, and generated $34
million in profits in 2010.[1]
In sum, the exorbitant rates paid by
prisoners’ families increase recidivism, and place an undue and unfair burden
upon the innocent. These spiraling costs are not attributable to security needs
and cannot be corrected by a marketplace solution. As the only agency with
jurisdiction over long distance rates, the Federal Communications Commission is
the correct venue to resolve this problem. A firm stance by the Commission,
along with recommendations that will help guide the state regulatory bodies
with authority over local telephone rates, will provide a strong impetus to
improve the situation at every level. Prisoners will be able to be in more
frequent contact with their loved ones, and the public will be safer as a
result.
For all the above reasons, we urge you
to cap interstate prison phone call rates and take up the long-overdue task of
protecting a vulnerable population from abusive practices. Thank you for your
consideration.
Sincerely,
The Leadership Conference on Civil and
Human Rights
ACLU
Rabbi Menachem Katz, The Aleph
Institute*
David Keene, American Conservative
Union*
Gary Bauer, American Values*
Asian American Justice Center
Chris Cannon, Cannon Industries, Inc.*
Center for Constitutional Rights
Center for Media Justice
Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for
Race and Justice
The Constitution Project
Consumers Union
Tom McClusky, FRC Action*
Free Press
Human Rights Defense Center
International CURE
NAACP
Galen Carey, National Association of
Evangelicals*
National Council of La Raza
National Hispanic Media Coalition
National Urban League
New America Foundation, Open Technology
Initiative
NOW
PolicyLink
Prison Fellowship
Public Knowledge
Rev. Lou Sheldon and Andrea Lafferty,
Traditional Values Coalition*
United Church of Christ, OC, Inc.
United Methodist Church, General Board
of Church and Society
Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil
Rights & Urban Affairs
*Institutional affiliation listed for
identification purposes only.