Further lowering inmate calling rates or eliminating commissions...

Further lowering inmate calling rates or eliminating commissions paid to governments by phone providers “could have a detrimental impact on both ICS [inmate calling service] providers and the jails and prisons that rely on these revenue sources to provide inmate phone services,” Network Communications International Corp. (NCIC) President William Pope said July 7 during separate meetings with staff for the FCC Wireline Bureau and Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Ajit Pai, according to an ex parte notice (http://bit.ly/1syGYxF) posted Wednesday in docket 12-375. Pope also said the data collection requirement in this proceeding is burdensome because NCIC does not maintain its data on a facility-by-facility basis and he encouraged approval of a 60-day extension sought by NCIC. The FCC should model any change to rates and fees on a recent order approved by the Alabama Public Utilities Commission. The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision meanwhile outlined the steps it took in eliminating the commissions in 2007, in a letter (http://bit.ly/1mgWEVR) to the Wireless Bureau posted in the docket on Tuesday. Wednesday, an FCC workshop heard from ICS providers, commissioners and others on inmate call reform, which Chairman Tom Wheeler called a priority (CD July 10 p4).