Heather Kofalt spends $60 a week just to talk to her husband on the phone. Most of us spend about this much on our
monthly cell phone bills. The reason it costs her so much? Mr. Kofalt is incarcerated, and a 15-minute call to the prison where he is held is $12.95, compared 60 cents for a non-prison call.
Families with incarcerated loved ones are shouldering ridiculous costs - or going into debt - simply to speak to them on the phone. Calls to the incarcerated can run as high as $2.40 a minute or $17 for a 15-minute call.
The FCC has recently proposed capping the rates for all types of phone calls to prisons. Please sign this petition to support the FCC proposal!The reason calls to inmates cost so much is because of the state colluding with phone companies. As of 2012, 90% of incarcerated people were in a state that has an exclusive phone service agreement with one of just 3 companies: Global Tel*Link, Securus Technologies, or CenturyLink.
This is a monopoly, and when companies have a monopoly, they can charge whatever they please.
Here's how it works: In all but 9 states, companies bid to get contracts with states, and the contract includes a promise that the companies will pay “commissions." These come in the form of a percentage of revenue, a fixed up-front payment, or a combination of the two,
according to the Prison Policy Initiative. This gives states incentives to pick companies that offer the highest kickback, not the lowest call rates.
This state-sanctioned monopoly needs to end. While this is just one problem in the larger issue of mass incarceration, this small step by the FCC can ease a serious burden plaguing many families.
Please sign this petition to support the FCC proposal to cap the rate for all types of calls to prisons!