Hank, CBC join fight against sky-high rates on prison phone calls

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Hank Johnson (GA-04) and members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) were joined by former prisoners and their family members to expose exorbitant rates that prisoners are being charged for telephone calls.

“These astronomical fees are nothing more than predatory prison phone rates being perpetrated by the phone companies and prisons, creating a mini-monopoly,” said Johnson. “Charging someone $17 to $20 to make a phone call is outrageous, and creating a $250 or $300 monthly bill is criminal. I join everyone here today in rejecting this’ hidden tax’ on the poorest in our society.”

For more than 10 years, families of inmates have been fighting the high call rates, which often shut down communication with loved ones and increase the likelihood of recidivism. Acknowledging the exorbitant costs of prison phone calls, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) following a 2001 court order in the United States Court for the District of Columbia, but it required two subsequent petitions by families affected by the high rates to get the most recent proposed FCC rulemaking. The issue remains unresolved.

Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) has introduced legislation requiring the FCC to regulate exorbitant calling rates for prison phone calls between family members.

“When there is an insurmountable cost for prisoners to communicate with loved ones, who are often their only support system, the rate of recidivism is increased and the prison system fails inmates, their families and society,” said Johnson.

The CBC Taskforce on Prison Telecomm Reform, chaired by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), is working to expose the issue, help the families and prisoners, and work to ensure others do not have to endure the same hardship. The members of the taskforce other than Johnson and Norton are Reps. Bobby Scott (D-VA), G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), Donald Payne Jr. (D-NJ), Bobby Rush (D-IL) and John Lewis (D-GA).

Congressman Johnson, along with other CBC members, met with Mignon Clyburn of the FCC on Wednesday.

Cutline: Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) speaks at a Capitol Hill news conference on April 24 to expose exorbitant rates that prisoners and their families are being charged for telephone calls. From left: Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), Rep. Johnson and Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL).

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