Many inmates and their families have been quick to complain about the high costs of making outgoing calls from prisons. Since the inmates themselves often have no source of income, it is up to the families to deposit the money in the inmates’ commissary accounts, which allows them to place calls back home. In some cases, these charges can add up to hundreds of dollars per month.
Often times the inmates and their loved ones blame the communications companies that provide the phone service. But very frequently, it’s the prison or jail itself that is causing the high rates.
Throughout the country, many prisons and jails take a commission on every dollar spent by inmates on outgoing phone calls. Many people label these as legal kickbacks. Regardless of the terms used, there’s no doubt that they are a prime contributor to the high cost of prison phone calls.
Keeping costs low despite kickbacks
Many inmate communications companies, such as Securus Technologies, do an outstanding job of keeping costs low despite the sometimes enormous kickbacks they’re required to pay just for the privilege of being that institution’s telephone provider.
For example, Securus pays 71 cents of every dollar in revenue it generates at state prisons back to the state’s Department of Corrections. Even with such a high commission, Securus has managed to contain the average cost of a phone call in Louisiana’s state prisons to just $.15 per minute. It’s these companies that make the system work for everyone who are the unsung heroes of the prison telephone system.