NEW YORK, NY - It's been well documented that it's costly to be poor. A loaf of bread or a carton of milk is typically more expensive in poor neighborhoods. So is automobile insurance or the cost of cashing a check if the endorsee doesn't have a bank account.

But one of the most outrageous costs that poor people have to bear is the cost of accepting a collect phone call from a relative or friend who is incarcerated at a New York state prison. Charges are estimated to be 630 percent above the rate charged regular customers.

This is nothing short of state-sanctioned robbery. And before the Legislature packs up this week, it should finally correct such a gross injustice.

Sen. Mike Nozzolio, whose corrections committee adopted a bill in January that would lower phone rates from state prisons, must see to it. Fortunately for relatives and friends of inmates, it looks as if Nozzolio, who represents part of the Rochester region, is having some success. This week the Senate and Assembly agreed to amend the effective date of a bill that would require future prison contracts for telephone services to go to the lowest bidder.

Currently, Verizon holds the corrections department contract, which has netted the state more than $100 million.  In fact, because the contract represents more than $20 million in annual revenue to the department, the Pataki administration had raised objections to the proposed legislation.

Wisely, the Senate and Assembly didn't buy the administration's concern about revenue loss. Now that both chambers have agreed to switch the bill's effective date to Jan. 1, 2007, the full Legislature should affirm the change.

Finally, not only is there evidence that allowing inmates to keep in touch with outsiders reduces recidivism and prison tensions, it's unacceptable that the state should profit from people who typically have little.