Just two weeks ago Bernie joined with 14 others senators calling for a cap on predatory prison phone call charges. Bernie has made reforming our broken criminal justice system and reducing mass incarceration one of his signature issues. He has released legislation to ban private prisons. Today he announced that the FCC has voted to reduce predatory phone rates and to ban abusive hidden fees on inmates calls from prison.
Prison for profits have become the biggest lobby no one is talking about. Having a presidential candidate elevating the issue seems to have lit a fire under the industry.
The FCC’s plan would ease the financial burden on families with incarcerated loved ones by capping the cost of prison phone calls at 11 cents a minute for debit or prepaid calls in state and federal prisons. The proposal would reduce the cost of most inmate calls from $2.96 to $1.65 for a 15-minute in-state call, and from $3.15 to $1.65 for a 15-minute long distance call.
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Sanders has included language bolstering the FCC’s authority to crack down on predatory prison phone practices in the “Justice Is Not For Sale” act, a broad criminal justice reform package the Vermont lawmaker has introduced in Congress.
Bernie is showing leadership and getting very positive results.