Groups Spar Over Several Inmate Calling Petitions

Inmate calling service providers and consumer advocacy organizations disagreed on several petitions for reconsideration filed by United Church of Christ, Public Knowledge, NCIC Inmate Communications, a coalition of accessibility advocacy organizations and Hamilton Relay (see 2108300062). UCC's Media Justice Ministry and PK sought reconsideration of certain ancillary fees, saying the "likelihood of abuse is strong given the past behavior of regulated companies," in joint comments in docket 12-375. The groups said facilities shouldn't receive commissions because they aren't "part of the cost" of providing telecom services to incarcerated individuals. The National Sheriffs’ Association disagreed, saying security and administrative costs "benefit the public ... as the means to ensure ICS is not used for illegal purposes." Securus said the FCC should address site commissions in its pending rulemaking. "It would be premature and inefficient for the commission to act on petitioners’ requests while these same matters are still pending and open for comment," said ViaPath. Hamilton Relay said there "should be no correctional facility ... in the United States that lacks access to relay services" and the FCC should "reaffirm the obligation of ICS providers to work collaboratively" with telecom relay service providers. NCIC sought additional time for providers to deploy relay services. ClearCaptions backed Hamilton's request that TRS providers update an incarcerated individual's information within 30 days of "written notification," saying implementing enterprise registration would solve the issue "in its entirety." A coalition of advocacy organizations, including Telecom for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inc., National Association of the Deaf, and Gallaudet University's Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, backed all petitions but opposed NCIC's request.