International Law

Row over prison phone call costs

By John Hirst

An official complaint about telephone calls from prison costing seven times normal payphone rates has been made by the National Consumer Council (NCC).

There is no excuse for this conduct from BT. They are subjecting a captive audience to unfair contract terms. Many prisoners are still only receiving £4.50 per week pocket money. And, the cheapest BT phonecard is £2.00. It is daylight robbery to charge prisoners 7 times more than any person outside of prison to make a phone call. It is against the law to make prisoners pay for their own imprisonment, which the Prison Service and BT have conspired to do. The security aspect has to be paid for by the State, ultimately the cost must be borne by the taxpayers. It's the price of protecting the public, it does not come for free.

Full post as published by prisonlawinsideout on June 24, 2008 (boomark / email).