You Think Talk Is Cheap? Not Always

As if incarceration of a loved one isn't bad enough, the cost of phone calls to keep families in touch, can often make phoning home impossible.  Several news outlets, including Newsweek, Huffington Post, and the New York Times, have recently exposed the shadowy business of prison pay phones.  The FCC is looking into the situation, but in the mean time more than a million inmates are unable to keep in touch with husbands, wives and children because of a system by charging exorbitant fees and making sweetheart deals with local sheriffs.

One such company is Securus Technologies.  The company employs 1,000 people in 46 states, contracts with  2,600 jails and prisons across North America, and provides service to more than 1 million people.  Because inmates can choose only one provider in their jail, business has been booming for Securus.  Securus earned $114.6 million in profits on revenues of $404!  A 15 minute phone call could cost as much as $17, when you add administration fees and commissions to the cost of the actual cost.  Husbands and wives that want to stay in touch may spend up to $1,000 per month to do so, over budget for most inmates and their families.

Here's how it works.  Billions of dollars in commissions are paid to companies like Securus to local sheriffs.  Jail and prison administrators say allowing inmates to talk on the phone costs them money, as they need to pay guards to monitor the calls.  The fees collected by sheriffs may be up to 90% of the call revenue.  Also, phone companies have a monopoly on jail and prison phone service, and are not regulated.  This is just another example of those that can least afford it, those that are down on their luck, getting overcharged.  They have no one to speak up for them, and are taken advantage of.

From personal experience, all jails and prisons are not raping their customers.  Federal prisons (at least Taft and Lompoc) charge 10 cents per minute, instead of  $1.29 per minute which is being charged by companies like Securus.  Hopefully the FCC is looking into these exorbitant charges and  will rectify the situation.