Indiana News

FCC Approves Phone Call Cost Relief for Inmates

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (WOWO): Phone calls to and from prison inmates in Indiana will cost a lot less starting next year – thanks to a decision Thursday by the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC voted to cap the rates and fees and strongly discouraged the providers’ practice of paying commissions to prison facilities in exchange for phone service contracts. Aleks Kajstura with the Prison Policy Initiative says the existing prison phone rates are outrageous. 

“There was no cap on how much they were charging, so they were charging people a dollar a minute, There were programs that charged 15 dollars flat rate per call. You could talk just for two minutes and still be charged 15 dollars. There were all sorts of fees tacked on, on top of those phone rates. Costing ten dollars just to add to the account so you could make the call.”

Previous rate caps only applied to interstate calls. The new rates apply to in-state calls, which account for most of the calls that are made.

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