Families say new phone service too costly

Wednesday, April 19, 2000 | 10:22 a.m.

Friends and family members say they're being stuck with a higher tab to talk to Nevada prison inmates because of a new provider for the phone service.

After the Nevada Department of Prisons changed long-distance service providers at a Jean prison two weeks ago, inmates' families say their phone bills are rising because of exorbitant pricing.

Prisoners' families and members of Nevada CURE, a prison rights advocacy group, say the state changed long-distance companies to make more money from the lucrative profit-sharing clause in the state's contract. Under that contract, the Nevada Department of Prisons receives about half of all revenues from inmates' collect calls.

"The state is trying to make money off inmates calling their families and loved ones," said Donald Hinton, whose son is incarcerated in Southern Nevada Correctional Center in Jean, the first penitentiary to switch service on April 5. Other Nevada prisons are in the process of transferring service from Sprint to MCI, the carrier that was awarded the exclusive phone service contract Feb. 8.

"The rate of return that goes back to the prison is certainly a part of how it's awarded," said John Slansky, a Nevada prisons assistant director.

According to a March 17 memorandum sent to the Nevada Legislature's Interim Finance Committee, the Department of Prisons made more than $2.5 million during fiscal year 1999 on inmate phone calls. During the first half of fiscal year 2000, from July 1999 to January 2000, the state made more than $1.5 million.

But Lana McGaffin, chief of purchasing for Nevada prisons, said the amount the state receives was not the overriding factor in awarding the contract. She said the MCI contract returns a smaller rate of return, at about 49 to 50 percent.

Prison officials say they have received complaints about the new service, but said rates could increase only a very small amount because prison phone service rates are regulated by the Nevada Public Utilities Commission.

But a PUC spokesman said phone companies have more freedom when determining rates for inmates.

"Prison phones have a lot more latitude in how much they charge than other forms of telephone regulation," Barry Holt, a senior consumer representative at the PUC, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He said the commission has more control over rates charged by local providers in Las Vegas than with companies providing service at prisons. "Plus, once a prisoner calls over state lines, we can no longer regulate what's being charged."

Holt said the telecommunications industry is "bending over backwards" to have the prison phone system deregulated so long-distance providers' rates will not be set by state agencies.

"Lots of relatives were at the prison last weekend telling (inmates), 'Don't call me anymore,' " said Kim Bakken, whose husband has been incarcerated for two years at the Southern Nevada Correctional Center. "It just costs too much now."

Bakken said calls from her husband were blocked after she unknowingly ran up $191 worth of collect long-distance charges in less than 10 days. She spent six hours on the phone with MCI representatives trying to determine what rate she was being charged. A customer service representative told her calls from the Jean prison, about 45 miles southwest of Las Vegas, averaged $16 for every 15 minutes, Bakken said.