FCC Must Curb ICS Site Commissions, Not Just Hike Rate Caps, Petitioner Says

vote (see 1607140087). The FCC's fact sheet appears "to suggest that the Commission is contemplating an increase in 'proposed rate caps to account for costs facilities incur in offering ICS,' but without prohibiting or limiting the payment of site commission payments," said Michael Hamden, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in a letter posted Monday in docket 12-375. "Such an approach would increase ICS calling rates previously determined to be 'just, reasonable, and fair,' without addressing the underlying cause of dysfunction in the ICS market that has resulted in the exploitation of prisoners and their families for decades." Hamden recently said he was "encouraged" by the FCC's move (see 1607180059). Although the FCC is right to reconsider a 2015 order that set rate caps, he said, "lasting reform cannot be achieved without the prohibition or strict limitation on site commission payments" to correctional authorities. "Modifying the Order to designate a discrete, interim facility cost-recovery mechanism at a modest increase in per-minute calling rates (say, $0.01 to $0.04 per minute, depending on facility size) can work, but only if all other payments to correctional facilities are prohibited," he wrote. "Under such an approach, the interim rate would be set pending substantive review of a meaningful data collection process to determine the actual, legitimate expense of providing ICS services. However, all other payments to facilities and correctional authorities, including 'site commissions,' in-kind payments, and all forms of the payment of value for the provision of ICS, must be prohibited." The FCC didn't comment Monday.