The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to enact a policy prohibiting county-run jails and juvenile detention centers from charging for phone calls.
Starting July 1, all phone calls and video visits will be free to anyone incarcerated in a county facility.
Currently, calls from jails and juvenile detention centers cost 21 cents per minute for interstate prepaid calls and 33 cents per minute for local and in-state calls. Calls to other locations cost less due to a rate cap imposed in 2017 by the Federal Communications Commission.
Listening to a voice message from a detainee costs $ 2, and a 20-minute video visit costs $ 2.50, down from the pre-pandemic fee of $ 5.
In addition to the high per minute costs, there are added fees for services such as adding money to an inmate’s phone bill.
Rates and fees were established by the Sheriff’s Department’s contract with Securus Technologies, one of the largest providers of telephone service for prisons in the United States.
Tuesday’s vote formalizes a proposal submitted in March by supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer. Lawson-Remer told the San Diego Union-Tribune that the county should not generate income by charging inmates and their families to communicate.
“The idea that we should create a situation to benefit the families of incarcerated individuals who are already struggling day by day to put food on the table is morally wrong for me. This is not how we should pay for things, ”he said.
Research shows that incarcerated people who maintain contact with their friends and family do better when they are released from prison. Studies have also found that high phone costs disproportionately affect low-income families and penalize people who have not been convicted of a crime.
Supervisors initially approved the new policy in March, but were waiting for county staff to identify funding to offset the revenue the calls generated. The probation department receives approximately $ 140,000 a year under the Securus contract and the sheriff’s department receives nearly $ 2.8 million a year. The money goes to programs and services for inmates.
The new policy will allocate $ 7.7 million for fiscal years 2021-23 to cover lost revenue.
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Sheriff’s Department Capt. Alan Kneeshaw told the board that once the no-cost model goes into effect on July 1, inmates will be limited to one 15-minute call every three hours “to allow for user rotation. ”. Calls are currently cut off after 30 minutes, but there is no limit to the number of calls an inmate can make.
Bianca Tylek, executive director of the Worth Rises criminal justice reform organization, said she was glad supervisors went ahead with plans to make jail communication free, but the Sheriff’s Department’s proposal to limit The calls “undermine the intent of the new policy,” he said.
“We hope the county will review these restrictions and honor the policy’s intent to increase communication,” said Tylek.
The new policy comes amid efforts by federal and state regulators to further curb the cost of phone calls in jails and prisons. Last week, the Federal Communications Commission or FCC proposed lowering the limit for interstate calls to 12 cents per minute for prisons and 14 cents per minute for prisons with more than 1,000 people.
Also last week, the California Public Utilities Commission held virtual hearings to collect testimony from people affected by the cost of phone calls to jails and prisons.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Supervisor Nora Vargas asked the county administrative director to support these efforts to curb costs amid pressure from for-profit communications providers.
“For too long, a small number of companies have created a monopoly and forced families to pay unreasonable fees to speak with their loved ones,” Vargas said.
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