Prison Phone Justice

ALJ/CF1/smt 4/27/2021

FILED
04/27/21
11:52 AM

BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

Order Instituting Rulemaking to
Consider Regulating
Telecommunications Services Used
by Incarcerated People.

Rulemaking 20-10-002

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE’S RULING DENYING PRISON POLICY
INITIATIVE’S MOTION TO COMPEL GLOBAL TEL*LINK TO
RESPOND TO DATA REQUESTS
Summary
This ruling denies the Prison Policy Initiative’s Motion to Compel Global
Tel*Link to Respond to Data Requests. It recommends that Prison Policy Initiative
Inc. narrow its data request prior to resubmitting it to Global Tel*Link.
1. Background
The Prison Policy Initiative Inc. (PPI) filed a Motion to Compel Global
Tel*Link to Respond to Data Requests (Motion) on March 18, 2021. Global Tel*Link
Corporation (GTL) filed a Response of Global Tel*Link Corporation to the Motion of
the Prison Policy Initiative, Inc. to Compel (Response) on March 29, 2021. At issue
in the Motion and Response is PPI’s request that the Commission order GTL to
respond to three questions in PPI’s First Data Request to GTL, which are for GTL
to provide:
REQUEST NO. 1: All contracts between GTL and any
person that receives or processes payments from end-users
on GTL’s behalf. This request includes contracts with
payment-card processors, acquiring banks, and money
transmitters.

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REQUEST NO. 2: In relation to each contract identified in
response to Request No. 1, provide all documents showing
any compensation collected within the last 24 months by
the contractual counter-party, whether such compensation
was paid directly by GTL or deducted from end-user
funds. * * *
REQUEST NO. 6: … [C]opies of your responses to any
data requests propounded to you by other parties to this
proceeding or by Public Utilities Commission staff. 1
Both the Motion and the Response appropriately append declarations from
Stephan A. Raher, on behalf of PPI, and from Matthew L. Conaty, on behalf of
GTL. These declarations state the facts of the dispute as each party sees them, as
required in the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure (Rules) 11.3(a).
However, it is not entirely clear from the Motion and the facts provided in the
Declaration of Stephan R. Raher that PPI has yet made a “good faith attempt at
informal resolution of the discovery dispute” as required under Rule 11.3(a).
The Motion states that, “[b]ased on the parties’ discussion at a
February 26, 2021 discovery conference, it appears that GTL’s only real objection
to Requests 1 and 2 is that the company believes the Commission lacks
jurisdiction to regulate ancillary fees.2 ” However, GTL in its February 12, 2021
response to PPIs First Data Request, 3 appended to PPI’s Motion as Exhibit 2,
states that, “the reference to ‘any person’ [in Request No. 1] contemplates

1

PPI Motion, Exhibit 1 at 3-4.

2

PPI Motion at 3.

Identified in Exhibit 2 as being issued on January 29, 2021, and in the Declaration and body of
the Motion as being issued on February 3, 2021.
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production of contracts with entities that do not serve end users outside of the
State of California.4 ” GTL’s Response reiterates this objection:
GTL has, in fact, maintained that the phrasing of Request 1
(specifically, its reference to “any person”) contemplates the
production of contracts between GTL and entities that do not
serve end users in the State of California, in contravention to
the Scoping Memorandum. GTL has also maintained that
Request 2 (specifically, its reference to “all documents” and
“any compensation”) is facially overbroad, compelling GTL to
search each and every document within its possession,
custody, and control for each and every reference to or
demonstration of the “compensation” for the past 24 months,
with no geographical limitation [footnote 12].5
Financial service fees to end users for third-party financial transaction and
single-call ancillary services are germane to this rulemaking, but only if they
pertain to communications services provided to incarcerated or detained persons
in California prisons or jails. PPI’s Motion to compel GTL to respond to Request
No. 1 as currently written is denied. If PPI wishes to continue to pursue this
discovery request, PPI must revise Request No. 1 to limit its request to
third-party financial transactions pertaining to incarcerated or detained persons
within the State of California.

Motion, Exhibit 2 at 2. The phrase “do not serve end users outside of the State of California”
(emphasis added) appears to be a typographical error that GTL corrects in its Response at 5,
where it states, “do not serve end users in the State of California” (emphasis added).
4

GTL Response at 5. Footnote 12 at GTL Response at 5 states “GTL serves approximately 2,300
correctional facilities and 1.8 million inmates in 50 states, the District of Columbia and
Puerto Rico. To this end, PPI’s Proposed Order is wholly unreasonable, affording GTL only
three business days to complete and produce a company-wide search of correspondence,
accounting, and operational materials.”
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PPI’s Request No. 2, summarized in PPI’s Motion, contravenes
Commission Rule 10.1, which limits discovery to:
…any matter, not privileged, that is relevant to the subject
matter involved in the pending proceeding, if the matter
either is itself admissible in evidence or appears reasonably
calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence,
unless the burden, expense, or intrusiveness of that discovery
clearly outweighs the likelihood that the information sought
will lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. 6
PPI’s use of the phrases “all documents” and “any compensation” in its
Request No. 2 is overly broad. As a result, it is unlikely that much of the
information GTL produced in response to PPI’s Request No. 2 as currently
written would lead to the discovery of admissible evidence in this proceeding.
Producing the documentation as requested by PPI in its First Data Request
would burden GTL. As with Request No. 1, PPI did not limit Request No. 2 to
third-party financial transaction contracts for incarcerated or detained persons
solely in California prisons or jails.
For these reasons, PPI’s Motion to compel GTL to respond to PPI’s Request
No. 2 as currently written is denied. If PPI wishes to continue to pursue this
discovery request, PPI must revise Request No. 2 to limit its request to
third-party financial transactions pertaining to incarcerated or detained persons
within the State of California. PPI should also narrow its request to identify a
reasonable set of specific types of documents likely to contain evidence
admissible in this proceeding.
PPI’s Motion to compel GTL to respond to its Request No. 6 is also denied.
The Motion and the Response indicate that the dispute surrounding Request

6

Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure, Rule 10.1.

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No. 6 pertains to data submitted by GTL to the Public Advocates Office in
response to a data request. GTL did not provide a copy of its response to the
Public Advocates Office to PPI, stating that it would not produce confidential
information arising from Federal Communications Commission (FCC) WC
Docket No. 12-375 proceeding unless PPI complied with the FCC’s protective
order.
As detailed in GTL’s Response, PPI had several opportunities to discuss
issues surrounding Request No. 6 prior to executing a Non-Disclosure and Use of
Information Agreement (Agreement) with GTL on March 2, 2021.7 The executed
Agreement clearly obligates PPI to comply with the “Procedure for Obtaining
Access to Stamped Confidential Documents and Confidential Information set
forth by the FCC Protective Order,” including the:
…execution and filing with the FCC’s Wireline Competition
Bureau of the Acknowledgement of Confidentiality appended
thereto, and (ii) until the FCC resolves objections, if any,
arising from the Receiving Party’s compliance with the FCC
Protective Order’s Procedure for Obtaining Access to Stamped
Confidential Documents and Confidential Information, as
detailed therein.8
GTL’s Response explains that Paragraph 5 of the FCC Protection Order
“specifies that ‘[a]ny person” desiring access to Stamped Confidential
Documents and Confidential Information filed by GTL must execute the

GTL Response, Exhibit 3, Global Tel*Link Corporation and Prison Policy Initiative, Inc.
executed Non-Disclosure and Use of Information Agreement.
7

GTL Response, Declaration of Matthey L. Conaty, and Exhibits 1, 2, and 3 at pages 3,
February 23, 2021 Proposed Non-Disclosure and Use of Information Agreement,
February 26, 2021 Proposed Non-Disclosure and Use of Information Agreement, and
March 3, 2021 executed Non-Disclosure and Use of Information Agreement.
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Acknowledgement appended to the FCC Protective Order and submit it to
[Wireless Competition Bureau], which will resolve any objections thereto.9 ””
Neither PPI’s Motion nor GTL’s Response state that PPI has executed an
FCC Protective Order in FCC WC Docket No. 12-375, Rates for Interstate Inmate
Calling Services. Further, neither PPI’s Motion nor GTL’s Response state that PPI
has completed Paragraph 5 of the FCC Protective Order. Thus, some facts
remain unclear regarding PPI’s Request No. 6. What is quite clear, however, is
that the FCC Protective Order requires that any person obtaining access to
confidential information pursuant to the Order must not use it for any purpose
other than FCC WC Docket No. 12-375:
Use of Confidential Information. Persons obtaining access to
Confidential Information (including Stamped Confidential
Documents) under this Protective Order shall use the
information solely for the preparation and conduct of this
proceeding before the Commission and any subsequent
judicial proceeding arising directly from this proceeding and,
except as provided herein, shall not use such documents or
information for any other purpose, including without
limitation business, governmental, or commercial purposes, or
in other administrative, regulatory or judicial proceedings.10
This Commission lacks the authority to compel GTL to release information
stamped as “confidential” in FCC WC Docket No. 12-375, Rates for Interstate
Inmate Calling Services. Further this Commission would certainly not consider
this absent PPI’s declaration that it has executed and fully complied with the
FCC’s Protective Order.

9

GTL Response at 9, citing FCC Protective Order, Paragraph 5, available here:

FCC Protective Order in Rates for Interstate Inmate Calling Services, 28 FCC Rcd 16954, ¶ 7
(2013).
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IT IS RULED that The Prison Policy Initiative Inc.’s March 18, 2021 Motion
to Compel Global Tel*Link to Respond to Data Requests is denied.
Dated April 27, 2021, at San Francisco, California.

/s/ CATHLEEN A FOGEL
Cathleen A. Fogel
Administrative Law Judge

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