Unintended consequences of limiting phone charges in prisons

The FCC rule capping jail phone charges at $0.07 per minute has unintended consequences. In Hernando County, this change will result in a loss of services for prisoners. Currently, the Hernando County Jail makes $450,000 by charging $0.18 per minute for prisoner voice or video calls.

These funds go to programs that fund 3.5 positions of inmate services, including rehabilitation specialists, GED teachers and visitation staff. The FCC also does not allow profits from phone calls. Without profits from phone calls, the cost of the services must either be borne by taxpayers or the programs must be cut.

The FCC's changes came at least in part in response to media reports about the outrageous phone rates being charged to prisoners. In some prisons, video call charges were as high as $2.25 per minute, which seems exploitative.

There were also some prisons that were run by private companies that considered the money from the phone calls as part of their profits. The fact that in some cases these funds were used by the prisons to provide programs for the prisoners was ignored in most reports.

The FCC responded to these reports of exploitative behavior by significantly reducing the maximum call charges to $0.07 per minute. The old maximum call charge was $0.22 per minute.

The contract between the Hernando County Jail and the telephone service provider provides that the jail receives 70 percent of the revenue from telephone calls at a rate of $0.17 per minute.

The FCC's changes will have unintended consequences for the inmates and families they seek to protect. One likely result will be the cutting of critical services that prisoners depend on. Oklahoma's attorney general has said he plans to sue to prevent the changes from being passed because of their unintended consequences.