Pennsylvania State Prison phone rates and kickbacks

Pennsylvania ranks 13rd in the nation for the affordability of a 15 minute call.

Kickbacks paid

$3,470,852.00 paid in 2017.

Percentage of call cost going to kickbacks: 59-60%

Cost of a 15-minute Intrastate Call

	Collect	Prepaid	Debit
Same state	$0.90	$0.90	$0.90
Local	$0.90	$0.90	$0.90

Detailed rates

	Collect	Prepaid	Debit
Same state	0.06/min	0.06/min	0.06/min
Local	0.06/min	0.06/min	0.06/min

Phone service providers

Securus

Notes

Rates current as of May 2017.
Kickbacks from FY2012.

Data current as of 2017-2018

Historical Data for Pennsylvania

Primary source documents

State DOC Rates

State DOC Contracts

State DOC Commission Data

Key Prison Phone Documents

PLN Dec. 2013 cover story on the prison phone industry

PLN April 2011 cover story on the prison phone industry

HRDC comment to FCC re WA phone rates Sept. 2014

HRDC response to PayTel comments Jan. 2014

HRDC comment to FCC on FNPRM Dec. 2013

HRDC comment to FCC on NPRM March 2013

HRDC reply comment to FCC on NPRM April 2013

HRDC response to Global Tel comments Oct. 2012

HRDC initial comment to FCC April 2007

FCC Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking - Oct. 2014

FCC Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking - Sept. 2013

FCC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking - Dec. 2012

Prison Phone Related News

Criticism of Commission-based Phone Contract at Pennsylvania County Prison

Loaded on Aug. 8, 2018 by R. Bailey published in Prison Legal News August, 2018, page 58

Filed under: Telephone Rates. Location: Pennsylvania.

by R. Bailey

Prisoners and their families in York County, Pennsylvania are outraged that Global Tel*Link (GTL), one of the nation’s largest prison and jail telephone service providers, has contracted with the York County Prison under a “commission” arrangement that provides kickbacks to the county through inflated phone rates ...

Massachusetts County Faces Lawsuit Over Phone Fee Kickbacks

Loaded on Aug. 8, 2018 by Monte McCoin published in Prison Legal News August, 2018, page 55

Filed under: Telephone Rates. Location: Massachusetts.

by Monte McCoin

On May 2, 2018, attorneys with Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts, the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), the Legal Services Center at Harvard Law School and the law firm of Bailey & Glasser LLP filed a lawsuit against Bristol County Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson and Securus Technologies ...

Alaska Jail Recorded Attorney-client Conversations for Four Years

Loaded on Aug. 7, 2018 by Monte McCoin published in Prison Legal News August, 2018, page 46

Filed under: Jail Misconduct, Attorney Client, Attorney Calls, Telephone Monitoring. Location: Alaska.

by Monte McCoin

On January 15, 2018, the Anchorage Daily News reported that, from 2012 to 2016, confidential conversations between criminal defendants and their attorneys were routinely recorded by a long-abandoned audio monitoring system in a visitation room at the Anchorage Correctional Complex (ACC).

Clare Sullivan, deputy commissioner of the ...

Federal Judge Dismisses Class-action Suits Over Jail Phone Rates, Commissions

Loaded on Aug. 7, 2018 by Christopher Zoukis published in Prison Legal News August, 2018, page 44

Filed under: Telephone Rates. Location: California.

by Christopher Zoukis

On August 10, 2017, U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers dismissed four related class-action lawsuits in which prisoners challenged the rates and commission kickbacks associated with jail phone service contracts.

A group of attorneys representing California prisoners held in San Mateo, Santa Clara, Contra Costa ...