[Telecom] California measure may reduce cost of phone calls from prisoners

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Collect telephone calls from prisoners in the United States can be extremely expensive, partly because of commissions paid by the long distance carrier to the prison administration.

California already prohibits the practice of paying commissions to the prison for state prisons (Senate Bill 81 passed in 2007).

Assembly Member Bill Quirk, a Democrat who represents the southern East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area, has introduced Assembly Bill AB-1876 to extend the prohibition on commissions to juvenile detention facilities and to county-operated jails. The drop in prices that should result from the elimination of commissions should reduce the financial hardship on the families of prisoners.

The following links provide some background on the measure and on Quirk.