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Judi Lynn

(160,525 posts) Thu Oct 22, 2015, 06:14 PM Oct 2015

Regulators slash telephone call rates for prisoners

Source: Reuters

Regulators slash telephone call rates for prisoners
Reuters
By Ian Simpson
2 hours ago

By Ian Simpson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday slashed U.S. prison telephone rates for local and long-distance calls to 11 cents a minute, from levels as high as $14 a minute.

The commission's 3-2 vote to reduce rates for inmates' calls effectively cut its cap on interstate calls by up to 50 percent, it said in a statement. The lower fees are aimed at helping prisoners maintain contact with family and friends. Greater contact lowers the likelihood that inmates will return to prison after release and the FCC move is part of the U.S. prison reform effort, the statement said.

. . .

The cost of a prison call had swollen to as much as $14 a minute when extra fees were tacked on, the panel said. The commission's order caps or bans extra fees and bars flat-rate calls. The FCC said it would carry out more rule-making for prisons, including rate caps for international calls and more competition.

. . .

Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, welcomed the FCC's vote.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/regulators-slash-telephone-call-rates-prisoners-194322765.html

3 replies

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Regulators slash telephone call rates for prisoners (Original Post) Judi Lynn Oct 2015 OP

Interesting - the PBS Newshour had a segment on this issue last night progree Oct 2015 #1

Exploiting The Families Of Prison Inmates Is As American As Apple Pie NonMetro Oct 2015 #2

Check out the comments under that article. drm604 Oct 2015 #3

progree

(10,903 posts)

1. Interesting - the PBS Newshour had a segment on this issue last night

Reply to Judi Lynn (Original post)

Thu Oct 22, 2015, 06:50 PM

Oct 2015

with no mention of any federal action or any federal action pending. MAYBE the PBS Newshour's work on this over the past weeks or months, and the ultimate broadcasting of it, was a large part in galvanizing this action.

If we had had a Republican president and thus a mostly or entirely Republican-appointed FCC, they probably would have doubled the rates instead of slashing them. Who the president is matters more than just Supreme Court appointments -- the appointments to regulatory agencies, and lower court judges -- also matters a heck of a lot.

That is one of many reasons why I am not withholding or throwing away my vote in the general election just because the Democratic nominee turns out to be not much to my liking on a lot of issues.

NonMetro

(631 posts)

2. Exploiting The Families Of Prison Inmates Is As American As Apple Pie

Reply to Judi Lynn (Original post)

Thu Oct 22, 2015, 09:28 PM

Oct 2015

And this particular way is a multi- billion dollar business.

drm604

(16,230 posts)

3. Check out the comments under that article.

Reply to Judi Lynn (Original post)

Fri Oct 23, 2015, 08:48 AM

Oct 2015

There are the predictable idiotic comments about prisoners not deserving phone calls, etc., but I was pleasantly surprised at how many of them support this move.

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