Prison Phone Rate

Prison Phone Rate

For many Latino families with an incarcerated loved one, it is too costly to communicate by phone due to high phone rates. Predatory companies have kept the cost of calls from prisons, jails, juvenile and immigrant detention centers up to 24 times as much as calls on the outside. Prison agencies keep 60 percent of the profit as a commission while 1 in 3 families go into debt attempting to stay in touch with detained relatives at a time when support is most needed.

Lowering the inflated cost of the most reliable way for inmates to connect to their family members while behind bars is one of the best ways to ensure our communities are safer and to decrease re-offenses and re-entry into the criminal justice system.

At a time when 1 out of 28 American children has an incarcerated parent, and individuals in America’s jails and prisons are disproportionately Latinos and people of color, NHMC is fighting to urge the Federal Communications Commission to eliminate incarceration profiteering and government kickbacks in the prison phone industry. NHMC is dedicated working with the FCC and organizational allies to ensure that the poor have the same opportunities to communicate with family and legal counsel as the wealthy.