New FCC prison phone regulation proposal play-by-play Last week, the Federal Communications Commission proposed several new regulations to protect the families of incarcerated people from the predatory prison telephone industry. These rules would fill major gaps in the current regulations and help ensure that no child who wants to talk to his or her incarcerated parent will fall through the cracks. As we promised, heres an overview of the FCCs 77-page notice: The FCC is calling for feedback on its new proposal to… Ban kickbacks altogether. The FCCs previous order said that companies arent allowed to treat the kickbacks as part of the cost of doing business, but the FCC is now seeking comment on getting rid of this perverse incentive that drives up the cost of calls. Cap in-state and out-of-state calling rates. The previous FCC regulation capped only the rates for calls between states, which tend to be more expensive but also only make up about 20% of all calls from incarcerated people. This new proposal would make sure that a family wouldnt have to pay more to talk to an incarcerated loved one just because that person was in the same state. Cap, limit, or flat-out prohibit ancillary fees. Our research found that fees drive up the phone bills families have to pay, so this step would make a huge difference for the more than 2 million kids with an incarcerated parent. The FCC also requests more feedback on… How to address additional communication services, such as video visitation, that suffer from many of the same market failures as phone services. Strategies to make the prison phone market more competitive, and increase access for individuals with disabilities. Applying the new regulations to existing contracts. Coordinating with state regulatory efforts. The costs and requirements for phone systems among different kinds of facilities. The actual cost of providing communications services in correctional facilities, and cost/benefit analyses of the regulatory proposals.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 19:03:33 +0000
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