Prisoners made mistakes. That’s a given. Having violated laws, our prison population is filled with the violent and nonviolent breakers of the so-called social contract between the state and individual. However, we must not forget that prisoners are humans, too. In response to private prison companies charging $14 per minute for phone calls, the Federal Communications Commission has placed restrictions on this ridiculous practice. With rancorous uproar from the private prison industry decrying the government’s relentless attempts to illegitimately regulate business, prisoners need support from citizens to resist the profit-mongering wishes of those oppressively taxing a direct connection between prisoners and their families.
Reducing the cap to 11 cents per minute, “while providing tiered rates for jails to account for the higher costs of serving jails and smaller institutions,” the FCC has ensured prisoners are not overcharged for simply calling a family member. Telecommunications corporations have used this practice to recoup the commissions they pay to prisons in exchange for telephone contracts. Thus, companies who used to charge upwards of $14 per minute created a roadblock deterring prisoners from maintaining meaningful relationships with loved ones or, if they choose to do so, incurring significant financial costs. As The New York Times Editorial Board states in a recent editorial, “there’s little doubt that inmates who keep in touch with their families have a better chance of finding places in their communities and staying out of jail once they are released.” The FCC has acknowledged the often unheard voices of inmates burdened by an old and manipulative system. As FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn notes, no one should pay “$500 a month for a voice-only service where calls are dropped for seemingly no reason, where fees and commissions could be as high as 60 percent per call and, if we are not careful, where a four-minute call could cost a whopping $54.”
Private companies have long recognized they can extort significant profits from economically inelastic inmates simply trying to have basic human conversations with their families. Just take Securus Technologies, a for-profit prison technology company whose entire business model is based off unreasonably high phone call rates. It’s no surprise then that in response to the FCC’s decision to prevent the manipulation of phone call prices, the CEO has threatened to organize a collective lawsuit with others in the industry against the FCC. To these companies, the FCC has signaled an unambiguous message: bring it on.
Prisoners messed up — but does that mean they should forfeit their basic humanity? Some are quick to dismiss the plights of prisoners, claiming those in prison had their chance but chose to violate the law. The ferry scene in "The Dark Knight" cleverly features this perspective. This prevalent view, albeit incorrect, is a function of the stereotype that prisoners are violent, irrational marauders. In fact, roughly 72 percent of federal prisoners are nonviolent offenders with no history of violence. Thus, prisoners can be anyone from cash-strapped debtors to someone caught smoking a joint. Our prison system needs to focus on rehabilitation and reconnection with society, not isolation and financial burden. Low-income families have struggled to pay anywhere from $1,000 to $2,000 per year to stay in touch at a fraction of the time they’d like. That is a heartbreakingly large amount of money.
But, naturally, it gets even worse. In efforts to further swell their profits, prison companies have turned to video-visitation services. Contrary to the free, high quality video services that might have popped into your head such as Skype, prisoners have been lured into signing unbelievable contracts for “video-visitations.” Seventy percent of these contracts require that video-visitation is only available to prisoners who forfeit their rights to in-person visitations. Thus, if an inmate who signed a video contract has a family member come visit him in prison, he is contractually forbidden to meet in person, even if only one room apart. That’s just immoral. The Washington Post notes “Securus Technologies has made a lot of money” in a system which once guaranteed free visitation, yet “now costs family members about a dollar per minute to utilize the new video system.” Companies continue to reap rewards from the vulnerable and voiceless in our prison system. Will we stand in support with our government or bow before an unfiltered invisible hand?
The FCC’s restrictions on phone call price-gouging is a truly positive step, yet the path to a fair and rehabilitative prison system is certainly incomplete. Prisoners are humans who violated the law. It is crucial we resist the urge to forget their humanity and allow the exploitation of their pocketbooks. Enough is enough. Prisoners are people, too.
Ben Yahnian is an Opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at b.yahnian@cavalierdaily.com.
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