Federal regulators float an aggressive new plan to cut the cost of prison calls

The Federal Communications Commission took another step toward addressing the concerns about paying rates that, to use an example FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn gave in a press call, make it so that a 15-minute telephone call to or from a prisoner within Arkansas can cost more than $14.

"The current market structure," said Commissioner Clyburn, "perversely discourages meaningful contact." In 2013, the FCC passed rules capping inmate calling rates -- for example, to $.25 a minute for collect calls -- on communications that cross state lines. Now Commissioner Clyburn and FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler have circulated to colleagues a draft proposal that would kick off the federal rulemaking process for calls that take place fully within the confines of a single state's boundaries. All those involved in the debate, though, admit that just talking about calling "rates" oversimplifies what is today a complex transaction. Securus Technologies, Global Tel*Link and Telmate are three of the companies providing prison calling services in the United States. In a filing to the FCC this month, the firms offered a proposal to address the issue that, they wrote, "consists of several inextricably linked components."