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Please note!
This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.
Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

Do city and county jails mark up the cost of phone calls for prisoners?

By Tory Coffin
YES

Inmates in local jails pay extra fees that drive the cost of phone calls as high as $25 for 15 minutes. Typically the excess fees are shared back by phone companies with local authorities, helping fund operations.

Since 2014 Federal Communications Commission rules have capped the cost of interstate long-distance, but most calls are between phones in a prisoner's home state. Some state prison systems have renegotiated their arrangements; Illinois rates are now less than a penny a minute. But rates for calling from local jails there and elsewhere continue to be much higher.

San Francisco recently became the first city in the country to move to abolish such fees, along with county markups on commissary prices. The coronavirus relief bill passed by Congress in March waived fees for inmates in federal prisons, offering free video and phone calls during the pandemic.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
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