They say don’t kick them
when their down. The prison system has certainly taken the opposite stance to
that idiom in their treatment of inmates. Currently, there is an order through the
Federal Communication Commission being passed to actually help deter some cost
to prisoners and their families in a measure that would put a cap on prison
phone call rates, but not without a fight.
While it is not often
expected to consider the rights of prisoners, monopolizing phone usage goes
beyond punishing those in prison, it punishes those who know someone in prison
as well. Inmates spend up to $1.25 per minute to reach out to friends and loved
ones. Costs can grow even higher if the prison offers some sort of prepaid
phone service which tends to be riddled with transactions and/or “convenience”
fees. Services are typically granted through payment companies like Western
Union (who also charge a fee for their hard work). Collectively, this scheme has
grown into a $1.2 billion industry.
Unfortunately, it’s hard
to make money when you’re stuck…in jail. Even if prisoners are able to get work
in prison, the most they can expect to make is whopping $2 an hour. Can you
imagine working 1 hour just to have a 1-2 minute phone conversation? For many,
telephone calls are their only option due to the high rate of illiteracy in the
inmate population.
Since inmates can barely
earn money, yet still are actual human beings who would like to be in touch
with their family and friends, most of the costs for phone calls are put on
those same families and friends. Now, who’s being punished? This price gouging
doesn’t stop at phone calls. Prisoners regularly have to cover other expenses
at the commissary, co-pays for substandard medical care, video visitations and
even for email. With over 22 million people in detention, roll out the business
opportunities!
Not only are free,
non-detained people in the community helping to pay these crazy, inflated
charges for phone companies, there’s a kicker: almost 25% of phone charges go
back to the prison as a fee to the phone company. That doesn’t include all the
“kickbacks” prisons receive to begin with, since phone companies have to win a
bid to become the sole source of communication for prisoners. So, instead of
looking for the best costs for inmates, prisons tend to seek companies that can
provide them with the most kickbacks. It's genius! Arrest lots of people who
are likely poor and uneducated to begin with, have them pay tons of money to
try to escape their hellish lives for even 10 minutes through a phone call, get
kickbacks and extra promises through phone companies, and receive very little
pressure from the community because who cares about people who broke the law?
Despite the soaring
costs for inmates who have already lost basically everything once they entered
the detention facility, studies show that prisoners who have frequent
communication with those back home are less likely to go back to jail in the
future. You heard that right; more contact on the outside can help discourage
recidivism. That means less people returning to jail, less families being torn
apart, and fewer burdens on tax-payers. So why is this an issue? Give out free
calls! Oops, my extremism is showing.
Some penitentiaries
claim the high price for phone calls is due to the extra security needed to
monitor the phone lines; therefore, the profiteering is justified. However,
these claims can quickly be shot down thanks to New York. New York banned
kickbacks and requires prisons accept bids from the phone companies that offer
the lowest possible bid FOR THE USER. Inmates in New York are only
charged $.05 a minute for local and long distance calls and magically,
monitoring and security measures are all intact.
While prison phone call prices seem like a tiny
issue on the scales of social justice, it actually affects a huge chunk of our
population in one way or another. Research suggests telephone privileges help
to maintain community and family ties, increases inmates’ personal development,
and decreases the likelihood of inmates’ negative behavior while in jail. So
who does gouging communication costs benefit? Prisons, phone companies? It
would seem that if the actual goal was decreasing recidivism and increasing rehabilitation,
inmates would be able to make regular calls to home without having to take out
a personal loan. For all the problems with the justice system, this one seems
like an easy one to fix.
