New Jersey Board of Public Utilities Retains High Phone Rates for County Jails

On February 11, 2015, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (The Board), in a public session, denied a request for rulemaking on the petition proffered by various prisoners’ advocacy institutions and individuals. The request called for a cap, similar to New York’s rate of no more than $0.05 per minute, on intrastate collect telephone calls for New Jersey prisoners in county jails and state prisons. The Board noted that the referenced New York $0.05 rate cap was arrived at through a competitive process, not rulemaking, which resulted in a contractual agreement between the telecommunications providers and the New York Department of Corrections.

New Jersey prisoners now pay $0.17 per minute for out-of-state calls from state prisons, based on the FCC imposed cap, but can pay up to $0.56 per minute for local calls made from county jails where there is no regulation. Under current contracts, counties will receive a commission usually in excess of 50% of the cost of the call. The petition noted, “[t]hese commissions create perverse incentives by encouraging the governments contracting with phone companies to choose high rates.” That specific issue was not addressed by the Board.

Other agencies are currently weighing in.

Sources: N. J. Public Notice of 16 Mar. 2015, re: Telecommunications; and Star Ledger, http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2014/04/coalition_calls_on_nj_regulators_to_lower_cost_of_phone_calls_inmates_are_charged.html