Providers, Advocates Disagree on ICS Refunds, TRS Access
Inmate calling services providers and advocacy organizations disagreed whether the FCC should establish rules to better facilitate refunds of inactive accounts, in comments posted Friday in docket 12-375 (see 2211140038). Some groups sought additional information from ICS providers after the third mandatory data collection, and urged better access to telecom relay services for incarcerated individuals with disabilities.
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A coalition of consumer advocacy organizations asked the FCC to require that ICS providers notify individuals of their policies on inactive accounts and if their account is at risk of becoming inactive. "Consumers should not be at the mercy of a patchwork of obscure corrections facility notices and information from third-party advocates to obtain funds that are rightfully theirs," said the Wright Petitioners, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, Prison Policy Initiative, Public Knowledge, and Worth Rises in joint comments.
The groups also backed requiring automatic refunds once an individual is no longer incarcerated or within seven business days of a refund request, and asked the FCC to "aggressively pursue corrections" to third mandatory data collection submissions from ICS providers. Pay Tel Communications said it's "concerned about the accuracy and thoroughness of the data." The ICS provider suggested "further refinement" of the data collection may be necessary to ensure compliance. ViaPath said the data collection "supports adoption of the commission’s interim ICS rate caps as permanent backstop rates and demonstrates that adoption of lower rate caps would ultimately threaten the level of competition present in the ICS market."
ICS providers "generally sweep inactive accounts too soon and should instead be required to keep accounts inactive for up to 364 days before refunding funds or otherwise disposing of the accounts," said NCIC Inmate Communications. The ICS provider said calls to eliminate ancillary services from the per-minute rate caps are "misguided." Doing so "likely would cause new efforts to subvert the FCC’s ancillary fee caps, and require ICS providers to spend thousands of hours renegotiating contracts to comply with a new fee structure," NCIC said.
"Refunds clearly should be available for both" prepaid and debit accounts, said Securus, but "the refund mechanisms are different" and the FCC should "focus on the effectiveness of the communications used to notify consumers of refund availability." The ICS provider asked that it be allowed to resume its "highly beneficial and popular" subscription service, adding rules on the "treatment of unclaimed property should continue to lie exclusively with the states." Securus also backed allowing enterprise registration for IP captioned telephone services, which "will facilitate obtaining access to communications services by incarcerated persons with disabilities."
Adopting enterprise registration for IP CTS would "simplify the ministerial efforts demanded of incarcerated people with disabilities," said a coalition of advocacy organizations for deaf and hard of hearing individuals. The FCC should also expand accessibility obligations to jurisdictions with average daily populations (ADP) lower than 50, said the coalition, which included Helping Educate to Advance the Rights of the Deaf, Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inc., and the Hearing Loss Association of America. Excluding jurisdictions with an ADP of fewer than 50 would "enable ICS providers to continue denying service where it is most needed," they said. ViaPath disagreed, saying adopting additional disability access rules for small facilities will "impose significant costs on ICS providers and correctional facilities with little corresponding benefit." Pay Tel noted the "cost of deploying equipment and hiring and training personnel to deploy and operate devices in smaller facilities as opposed to larger jails and prisons cannot be ignored."
Site commissions "fail the prudent investment test," said the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry and Public Knowledge in joint comments. The groups repeated their request in a petition for reconsideration that the FCC reverse its decision to allow recovery of site commissions and include ancillary fees in interim rates. Security costs should be rejected because they aren't related to communications and would "require complex and difficult division" of common costs, said United Church and PK. The FCC should "continue to expand protections for vulnerable populations subject to various forms of detention," said the Electronic Privacy Information Center. The group agreed surveillance costs "beyond those required by law under the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act ... are not properly considered services to incarcerated persons or their contacts."