Interim interstate prison calling rates took effect Tuesday. ...

Interim interstate prison calling rates took effect Tuesday. The rates cap per-minute rates at 21 cents a minute for prepaid calls and 25 cents a minute for collect calls -- a decrease in some places of more than 80 percent. “Although the wheels of justice often turn slowly, relief for families of inmates has finally arrived,” said a joint statement by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel. “This means that many families will no longer have to choose between talking to their loved ones in prison and paying their utility bills. It means that society will benefit from the decreased rates of recidivism that family contact brings.” Prisoners and their families “are among the most vulnerable members of society,” the chairman and commissioners said. A spokesman for Commissioner Ajit Pai, who voted against the prison calling order, declined to comment. A spokesman for Commissioner Mike O'Rielly also declined comment. In a letter Monday, prison phone service provider Securus asked the FCC Wireline Bureau for guidance on the interim rate caps adopted in the commission’s prison calling order (http://bit.ly/1ogFMy4). Securus said the order sets interstate rates at 21 cents per minute for prepaid calls and 25 cents per minute for collect calls, or $3.15 and $3.75 for a 15-minute call. The order also gives carriers “flexibility” to calculate rates by “calculating their compliance on the basis of a 15-minute call.” Based on that language, “several correctional authorities have asked Securus whether it can adopt interstate rates that are $3.15 for all prepaid calls and $3.75 for all collect calls, assessed as a flat rate. They would prefer this rate structure."