New York Times Joins Advocates in Opposing Costly Jail Telephone Calls

Criminal Justice , , , ,

The New York Times lent its voice to a growing advocacy effort combating exorbitant telephone call fees from jail, from which many municipalities, including Cook County, generate considerable revenue.

Spurred in part by the Prison Policy Initiative’s latest report, “The Price to Call Home: State-Sanctioned Monopolization in the Prison Phone Industry,” the Times editorial board writes:

“The time is long past for the F.C.C. — which has been weighing this issue for nearly a decade — to break up what amount to monopolies and ensure that prisoners across the country have access to reasonably priced interstate telephone service.”

In his “Costs of Catching a Case” series this past Spring, WBEZ’s Rob Wildeboer revealed Cook County Jail’s telephone contract and its costs to defendants and their families:

“The calls are $7 on the low end, but can be as high as $15.  The rates are inflated because Cook County makes money on the calls. The county has a contract with Securus technologies that requires the phone company to pay almost 60 percent of what it makes from phone calls back to the county. The deal has netted the county about $12 million over the life of the three-year-old contract. The cost falls on the mostly poor families who can’t afford to post bond so their loved ones are left in jail while awaiting trial. Those families pay for calls they can’t afford, either.”

In a recent letter to Federal Communications Commission, which has the power to regulate the cost of the calls, Illinois’s own US Representative Bobby Rush explained why the current system is counterproductive:

“Research shows that regular contact between prisoners and family members during incarceration reduces recidivism, Phone calls are the primary means for families to maintain contact with incarcerated relatives. Experts across the political spectrum have recommended minimizing the cost of prison phone calls as a way to support strong family relationships with high rates for phone service that discourage regular contact. In fact, a one-hour call from prison often costs as much as a month of unlimited home phone service.”

Chicago Appleseed opposes exorbitant telephone call fees from Cook County jail and joins advocates calling for fair fees and fines, particularly when levied against indigent defendants.