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Law360 (April 2, 2020, 7:43 PM EDT ) A major prison phone call provider is urging the FCC to slash federal service fees tacked onto inmate phone calls, due to growing needs resulting from the coronavirus locking visitors out of prisons.
Securus Technologies LLC, which has long been trying to persuade the Federal Communications Commission to cut Universal Service Fund, or USF, rates, put in a formal request to have some of the fees waived.
The USF supports high-speed deployment, particularly in low-income and rural areas, but the prison phone industry has argued the fees are too high and make it harder for inmates to readjust to society. Now that state and local shelter-in-place orders are preventing corrections facilities from letting people see visitors, Securus said, it's crucial to reduce calling costs.
Securus' request came as a filing made as part of the docket in a forbearance petition filed by Network Communications International Corp.
Inmate calling service, or ICS, providers generally pass the fees along as surcharges to inmates, but are prohibited by law to charge more than their actual contribution.
"The novel coronavirus ('COVID-19') presents a need for the commission to take urgent action to provide any and all financial relief for ICS users that it can," Securus told the FCC in the March 18 filing.
Securus said as Americans seek to combat the spread of COVID-19, it agrees with former FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn that "[a] population that's not being recognized is those who are incarcerated."
While Securus points to COVID-19 as a reason for prison calling fee reform, it has been in the trenches seeking it for a lengthy period. For example, Securus filed comments in September with the FCC backing a petition to strike the fees.
In the recent filing Securus said the COVID-19 pandemic has affected inmates, law enforcement and correction agencies just as it has the rest of the population. "Securus understands that many county, state and federal corrections facilities have suspended the ability for inmates to receive in-person visitation in an effort to prevent the introduction to and spread of COVID-19 within jails and prisons," it said.
"Although these efforts are critically important to protect the health and safety of inmates, they harm the ability for inmates, and their friends, families and attorneys, to build and maintain critically important relationships," Securus said. "While in-person visitation is limited or prohibited, many inmates and their friends and families — many of whom are low-income and/or may be experiencing increased financial pressures due to lost income caused by COVID-19 — will increasingly rely on ICS as a means of communications."
A representative for the FCC did not immediately respond to request for comment Thursday.
The docket is In the Matter of Petition of Network Communications International Corp. for Forbearance, docket number 19-232, before the Federal Communications Commission.
--Editing by Stephen Berg.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
