Unfair Phone Charges for Inmates

[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission ended a grave injustice when it prohibited price-gouging by the private companies that provide interstate telephone service for prison and jail inmates. Thanks to the FCC order, which takes effect next month, poor families no longer have to choose between paying for basic essentials and speaking to a relative behind bars.

The commission now needs to be on the lookout for -- and crack down on, if necessary -- similar abuses involving newer communication technologies like person-to-person video chat, e-mail and voice mail. Absent regulation, prisons and phone companies will simply use the video chats to get around the price caps on interstate calls. Whatever the technology, gouging prison inmates and their families is both unfair and counterproductive, weakening family ties that could be critical to an inmate’s adjustment to the world beyond bars.