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| Prices for Phone Calls By Ind. Inmates to Decrease |
| By Indianapolis Star |
| Published: 10/08/2001 |
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Phone rates for Indiana state prisoners will drop next month, but some Indiana lawmakers still believe that friends and families who accept collect calls from inmates are being gouged by high prices. Under a new four-year contract negotiated by the Indiana Department of Administration, the cost of a 10-minute long-distance call from a state prison will drop from $10.85 to $4. Calls could cost even less if families choose to avoid a $1.50-per-call connection fee by prepaying their phone bills. Though long-distance rates are dropping for inmates in facilities operated by the Indiana Department of Correction, state officials can't control phone rates in county jails. Lawmakers recognize that phone service costs more in prisons and jails because calls need to be monitored for safety reasons. But lawmakers also are concerned that county officials, particularly, are making too much money off expensive phone rates. 'I don't want the families of prisoners subsidizing what it costs to run the jails. That's a taxpayer expense,' said Rep. Ed Mahern, an Indianapolis Democrat who hopes to co-sponsor legislation with Rep. Scott Mellinger, D-Pendleton, that would limit the profits county jails make off phone calls. |
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