Senators praise FCC for prison calling proposal

In a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler signed by 14 Senate Democrats and presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), they said that “it is of utmost importance that the FCC move forward with its proposal to curb intrastate calling rates for inmates.”

“The current proposal is a critical step forward in ensuring fair and just calling rates for incarcerated individuals,” they said. “We applaud the FCC’s discouragement of commissions paid by phone providers to institutions and continued oversight of this matter,” they said. “We also are encouraged by the Commission’s decision to review the market again in a few years, including a review of potential abuses in the video visitation telecommunication services market.”