tlnitrd ~tetrs ~rnetr The Honorable Thomas Whee ler Chairman Federal Communications Commission 445 121" Street, SW Washington, DC 20554 Dear C hairman Wheeler, WASHINGTON, DC 20510 October 15, 201 5 We commend you on the recently proposed Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rule to cap intrastate prison phone calling charges and urge the passage of this proposal. We appreciate you r work on this issue and the leadership of Com missioner Mignon Clyburn, who successfu lly took measures to cap interstate calling rates in 20 13. The current proposal is a critical step forward in ensuring fa ir and j ust ca lling rates for incarcerated individua ls. Keeping incarcerated people connected with their fami ly support systems reduces recidivi sm and prison vio lence. Cu1Tently, 2.2 million Americans are incarcerated and more than 2.7 mil lion chi ldren in the United States have an incarcerated parent. These chi ldren are often only abl e to connect wi th the ir parents by phone, as prisons and j ails are often fa r away from where family members live. Despite falling telecommunications costs, phone calls between inmates and the ir fami lies remain unreasonab ly high. In many states, a 15 minute call has an average cost of more than five dollars. In extreme cases, when all associated fees are incorporated in the aggregate cost, a phone ca ll can cost as much as fou1teen or fifteen dollars for a single minute. Unfortunately, in many cases state pri sons can receive a commission or "kick-back" from contracts w ith phone service providers, thus incentivizing a regime in which prisons profit from charging inmates higher rates. What may come as a financial benefit to institutions comes at a serious socia l cost, since many incarcerated people find the high costs of call ing home prohibitive, and the high rates can prevent them from keeping in touch w ith loved ones. For these reasons, it is of utmost impo1tance that the FCC move forward with its proposal to curb intrastate calling rates for inmates. We applaud the FCC's discouragement of commissions paid by phone providers to institutions and continued oversight of this matter. We also are encouraged by the Commission' s decision to rev iew the market again in a few years, incl uding a review of potentia l abuses in the v ideo vis itation telecommunication services market. These changes w il l enable fam ilies to stay connected and allow inmates to be better prepared to reenter society once the ir time has been served. Thank you for your attention to this matter. J ~ ___.,,. C--/,,,__~:_z::_,--Cory A. Booker Un ited States Senator Sincerely, Bernard Sanders Un ited States Senator 1047 WCB- Consumers Inmate Calling Service United States Senator United States Senator ~ P f,:, ~4-a I"' United States Senator ~~ Sherrod Brown United States Senator Chris Coons United States Senator ~ . Ro~ United States Senator United States Senator CC: Commissioners Clyburn, Rosenworcel, Pai, O' Rie lly .OM.~ .. ~ Richard J. Durbin United States Senator ~w~·J. Markey Un ited States Senator United States Senator ~ United States Senator ez United States Senator