Workshop on Reforming Inmate Calling Services Rates (updated w/agenda)

Workshop on Reforming Inmate Calling Services Rates

Federal Communications Commission
July 10, 2013
http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2013/db0613/DA-1...

To gather additional data on inmate calling services, the Commission will hold a workshop on Wednesday, July 10, 2013. This workshop will focus, among other things, on the impact of current ICS rates on inmates and their families, a review of state reforms of ICS rates, and a discussion regarding the cost of providing service and how to balance the needs of consumers and correctional facilities.

Welcome (9:00 AM): FCC Staff

Opening Remarks (9:15 AM): Acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn

Panel 1 (9:30 AM): Consumers and Public Policy – This panel will explore individual and societal impacts of ICS rates, rate reform, and increased contact between incarcerated individuals and their families.

Moderator:
Deena Shetler, Associate Chief, Wireline Competition Bureau

Panelists:

  • Alex Friedmann, Associate Director, Human Rights Defense Center & Managing Editor, Prison Legal News
  • The Honorable Patrick A. Hope, Member, Virginia House of Delegates
  • Cheryl Leanza, President, A Learned Hand, LLC on behalf of United
  • Church of Christ’s media justice and communications rights ministry
  • Talila Lewis, Founder and President, Helping Educate to Advance the Rights of the Deaf (HEARD)
  • Tim Meade, President and Chief Executive Officer, Millicorp
  • Charlie Sullivan, Founder, Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE)

Remarks from Dignitaries

  • The Honorable Bobby Rush
  • The Honorable Eleanor Holmes Norton

(11:00 AM): Lunch Break

Panel 2 (1:00 PM): State Actions to Reform Inmate Calling Services Rates – This panel will focus on issues addressed by states that have undertaken ICS rate reform. In particular, the panel will explore how rates have been set within those states, what the reform process has been, and how existing contracts and site commissions have been taken into account. The panel will also consider concerns that have arisen with disability-related calling and how states are addressing those challenges.

Moderator:
Commissioner John Burke, Chair, NARUC Committee on Telecommunications & Vermont Public Service Board

Panelists:

  • Commissioner Anne C. Boyle, Nebraska Public Service Commission
  • amalia Deloney, Associate Director, The Center for Media Justice
  • The Honorable Patrick A. Hope, Member, Virginia House of Delegates
  • Former Commissioner Jason Marks, New Mexico Public Regulation Commission

Afternoon Remarks (2:30 PM): Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel

Panel 3 (2:40 PM): Providing Inmate Calling Services – This panel will consider how ICS is evolving to drive efficiencies while providing service responsive to the unique needs of correctional facilities. This panel will explore the costs of providing service, including costs that may apply individually or be shared among facilities as well as how costs vary across type and size of correctional facilities.

Moderator:
Commissioner Anne C. Boyle, Nebraska Public Service Commission

Panelists:

  • Mitch Lucas, Assistant Sheriff, Charleston County Sheriff’s Office (SC) & 1st Vice President, American Jail Association
  • Lee G. Petro, Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
  • Richard Torgersrud, Chief Executive Officer, Telmate, LLC
  • Vincent Townsend, President, Pay Tel Communications, Inc.
  • Peter Wagner, Executive Director, Prison Policy Initiative

Closing Remarks (4:00 PM): Julie Veach, Chief, Wireline Competition Bureau


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