The rate caps recently imposed on interstate (long distance) prison phone calls by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) signal much-needed financial relief for prisoners and their families; however, they will also leave an estimated $650,000 gap in the 2014 budget for the Nevada Department of Corrections.

Due to the FCC’s rate caps, which have not yet gone into effect, the Nevada Board of Prison Commissioners was informed on December 17, 2013 that the state’s prison system will no longer be able to charge per-call connection fees for interstate phone calls.

The Associated Press incorrectly reported that the Nevada DOC’s interstate phone rates include a $1.00 connection fee; actually, the connection fee for long distance calls from Nevada prisons is $2.50, plus $.49 per minute. The Nevada DOC’s intrastate (in-state) phone rates include a $1.00 connection fee plus $.13 per minute – but intrastate calls are not covered by the FCC’s order. [See: PLN, Dec. 2013, p.1].

When the rate caps go into effect – which is scheduled for February 13, 2014, although pending litigation may extend that date – prison systems will be allowed to charge a maximum of $.21 per minute for interstate debit and prepaid calls, and $.25 ...

by John E. Dannenberg and Alex Friedmann

"After a long time – too long – the Commission takes action to finally address the high cost that prison inmates and their families must pay for phone service. This is not just an issue of markets and rates; it is a broader issue of social justice." – FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel


On August 9, 2013, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in a landmark decision, voted to cap the cost of long distance rates for phone calls made by prisoners and enact other reforms related to the prison phone industry. [See: PLN, Sept. 2013, p.42].

The FCC's 131-page final order was released in September and published in the Federal Register on November 13, 2013. It has not yet gone into effect due to a 90-day waiting period following publication in the Register, plus legal challenges have since been filed by the nation's two largest prison phone companies.

The order, entered in response to a petition for rulemaking submitted to the FCC, is the result of a decade-long effort to lower prison phone rates and implement much-needed changes in the prison phone industry.

Prison Phone Services: A Primer

The billion-dollar prison phone industry is ...

In April 2013, the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) issued an invitation for companies to bid on the department’s coveted prison phone contract.

The FDOC evaluated responses to the bid invitation and conducted negotiations with three companies: Global Tel*Link (GTL), Securus Technologies, Inc., which currently holds the department’s phone contract, and CenturyLink – the nation’s three largest prison phone service providers. The FDOC then issued a request for best and final offers (BAFO), and each company responded by June 18, 2013. After reviewing the final bids, the FDOC selected CenturyLink as the company that demonstrated the best value and service.

CenturyLink was able to woo the FDOC by offering an unusual proposition – increasing the department’s “commission” kickback to 62.6% of gross prison phone revenue from the current rate of 35%, while lowering the cost of a 15-minute call by approximately 25%. The 62.6% commission would be in effect for the initial contract term of five years, then change to 63.6% for the first two one-year renewals and increase to 64.1% for the third, fourth and fifth-year renewals.

CenturyLink indicated that its proposed rates did not include a per-call surcharge, which would allow prisoners to make more frequent calls at ...

1 Alaska provides free local calls, plus free calls to the state’s Public Defender Agency, Office of Public Advocacy and Ombudsman’s Office. First-minute rates for intrastate calls range from $.17 to $.60, with subsequent minutes as indicated in Chart B.

2 Illinois’ ICS contract changed to Securus in late 2012; the charts reflect current (2013) rates. The state’s prior contract was with Consolidated Communications Public Services (CCPS). Illinois’ contract with Securus initially had a commission rate of 87.1%, later reduced to 76%; the commission amounts in Chart D are pursuant to the state’s prior contract with CCPS, which had a commission rate of 56%.

3 Iowa only allows debit calls, with a maximum charge of $9.00 for interstate calls and $7.40 for intrastate calls. The Iowa DOC’s phone service is provided through the Iowa Communications Network (ICN), a state government agency, and PCS/GTL. The state does not receive a commission but rather retains all revenue in excess of the cost of providing prison phone services, which is termed “revenue” or “rebates.”

4 Maryland’s ICS contract changed to GTL in early 2013; the charts reflect current (2013) rates. The commission rate in Chart D (65-87%) is based on documents provided by ...

Welcome to the last issue of PLN for 2013. As the year closes we can look back and see we have accomplished a great deal, including expanding the magazine to 64 pages, successfully urging the FCC to cap the cost of interstate prison phone calls, and prevailing in censorship and public records lawsuits. We also moved our office to Florida from Vermont and will soon be reopening a PLN office in Seattle, Washington.

All of this does not happen on its own; it depends on help and support from our readers and supporters like you. If you can afford to make a donation to PLN or the Human Rights Defense Center, PLN’s parent non-profit organization, please do so. Your support will help us advocate on behalf of prisoners, work to reform the criminal justice system, litigate to protect basic First Amendment rights and much more. What goes around, comes around. For those interested in the full depth and breadth of what PLN and HRDC do, please review our annual reports at: www.prisonlegalnews.org/annualreports.aspx. If you don’t have access to the Internet, send us 8 new first-class stamps and request our 2012 annual report, and we’ll mail you a copy.

This month’s ...

The Nevada Supreme Court has held that a statute prohibiting prisoners from possessing escape devices does not encompass possession of a contraband cell phone.

Pursuant to NRS 212.093(1), prisoners are prohibited from having “any key, picklock, bolt cutters, wire cutters, saw, digging tool, rope, ladder, hook or any other tool or item adapted, designed or commonly used for the purpose of escaping.”

Pershing County jail prisoner Nickolas Mark Andrews was charged with violating NRS 212.093(1) when guards discovered a cell phone hidden in a box under his bunk. The trial court agreed with Andrews, however, that the statute does not prohibit cell phone possession. The charge was dismissed and the state appealed.

The Nevada Supreme Court affirmed, finding that the statute’s plain language “does not prohibit the possession of cell phones.” Therefore, the district court had correctly dismissed the charge against Andrews. Nevertheless, the state argued “that the phrase ‘designed or commonly used for the purpose of escaping’ brings cell phones within the scope of the statute.”

Rejecting this “overambitious reading,” the Court held it is “clear that the aim of the statute is to prohibit the possession of devices used to forcibly break out of, or physically flee from, ...

Following a decade of delays, the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) standards, promulgated by the U.S. Department of Justice, went into effect in August 2013. [See: PLN, September 2013, p.1].

One of the PREA rules, 115.51, states that correctional agencies “shall provide multiple internal ways for inmates to privately report sexual abuse and sexual harassment, retaliation by other inmates or staff for reporting sexual abuse and sexual harassment, and staff neglect or violation of responsibilities that may have contributed to such incidents.” The rule further specifies that “Staff shall accept reports made verbally, in writing, anonymously, and from third parties and shall promptly document any verbal reports.”

Although PREA does not require prisons and jails to establish internal telephone hotlines for prisoners to report sexual abuse and harassment, many have done so. When the PREA standards were being developed, some prisoners’ rights advocates expressed concerns that prisoners would not have faith in the hotlines, or be willing to use them, unless they provided true anonymity.

Most of the PREA hotlines in prisons and jails profess to accept anonymous reports, in that prisoners are not required to identify themselves or enter their phone PIN number to access the hotline to report ...

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has awarded a six-year system-wide telephone contract to Global Tel*Link (GTL), which requires the company to install equipment capable of blocking signals from contraband cell phones at the state’s 33 adult correctional facilities. In exchange for installing the equipment, as well as shouldering operational costs, GTL will receive all revenue generated from the Inmate/Ward Telephone System less an annual “administration fee” of $800,000.

The installation costs of the cell phone blocking system, called a managed access system, are estimated to be between $16.5 million and $33 million. To compensate for that expense, the revenue generated from prison phone services necessarily must be much greater. And it is, for two related reasons.

First, in most cases CDCR prisoners must use the prison phone system to make calls, as GTL has a monopoly on in-prison phone services. Second, because the rates charged for prison calls are not subject to the moderating forces of competition, they are much higher than non-prison phone rates. A typical intrastate (in-state) 15-minute call from a CDCR facility costs up to $2.00, while a 15-minute interstate (long distance) call costs $6.60. [See: PLN, April 2011, p.16]. Interstate rates are now ...

On August 9, 2013, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn presided over a historic vote by the Commission to reform the prison phone industry, and while doing so publicly acknowledged family members and prisoners’ rights organizations that had influenced the FCC to finally make the “Wright” decision.

Thirteen years ago, the Center for Constitutional Rights co-counseled with the D.C. Prisoners’ Legal Services Project and several other attorneys to file a lawsuit, Wright v. Corrections Corporation of America, U.S.D.C. (D. DC), Case No. 1:00-cv-00293-GK, challenging an exclusive prison phone contract that resulted in high phone rates. The district court referred the case to the FCC, and an initial petition for rulemaking, called the “Wright petition,” was filed in 2003 by lawyers from the D.C. Prisoners’ Legal Services Project and attorneys Steve Seliger and Frank Krogh. An alternative petition for rulemaking was submitted in 2007, seeking to cap prison phone rates at $.20/minute for debit calls and $.25/minute for collect calls. Attorney Lee Petro with the law firm of Drinker Biddle joined the case in 2009.

The lawsuit and subsequent FCC petition resulted after Martha Wright, an 87-year-old blind grandmother who lives in the District of Columbia, sought to lower the ...

It has been over 10 years since Martha Wright, a grandmother who filed a lawsuit challenging the high cost of prison phone calls, began trying to reform the prison telecom industry. Now, with more support than ever, advocates are asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to make the "Wright" decision.

On July 10, 2013, the FCC held its first-ever workshop on prison phone rates at the agency's headquarters in Washington, DC. In front of a room packed with prison phone justice supporters, and with more than 170 watching the proceeding online, the case was firmly made: The current prison phone industry model of paying "commission" kickbacks to government agencies to secure monopoly contracts results in unacceptably high phone rates that negatively impact prisoners, their families and our communities. Thus, there is a compelling need for reform of the prison telephone industry, including a cap on the cost of prison phone calls.

The FCC workshop was led by Acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn and included remarks by dignitaries such as U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush from Illinois and District of Columbia Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton. The day-long event included three panel presentations by advocates for prison phone reform, officials with prison phone ...