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Saturday, Aug. 22, 2020

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

Tory Coffin, Gigafact
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.

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