‘The Federal Communications Commission is about to get hit with a lawsuit from a gaggle of telecommunications companies who are fighting for the right to charge prison inmates a whopping $14 a minute to call relatives.
In a recent decision,[PDF] the FCC voted to cap the prices prisoners pay for phone calls. The panel’s vote came after it received numerous complaints that inmate-calling telecoms are overcharging prisoners, family members and attorneys. After learning that charges sometimes hit $14 a hour, the FCC capped them at 11 cents per minute, ARS Technica reported.
“None of us would consider ever paying $500 a month for a voice-only service where calls are dropped for seemingly no reason, where fees and commissions could be as high at 60 percent per call and, if we are not careful, where a four-minute call could cost us a whopping $54,” FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said ahead of the panel’s vote.’
