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The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is looking into the rates for phone calls at correctional facilities across the country, spurred by high long-distance charges that families of inmates at\u00a0Ontario\u00a0jails had to pay for years.<\/p>\n
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A proposed class-action lawsuit against the province and Bell, which ran the phone system in the province\u2019s jails from 2013 to 2021, alleges that the charges were exorbitant, with a flat rate of $1 for local calls and about $1 per minute plus a $2.50 connection fee for long-distance calls.<\/p>\n
One of the lead plaintiffs in the proposed class action had some monthly phone bills of over $1,000 from the collect calls he received while his son was in solitary confinement, he wrote in an affidavit.<\/p>\n
Bell Canada made more than $64 million in gross revenues from such calls over that time period and gave nearly $39 million of that to the province as commission.<\/p>\n
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The lawsuit has been on a long journey through the courts, to the CRTC, and perhaps now back to the courts.<\/p>\n
But while the CRTC decided in December that it does not have jurisdiction over that specific case, it is \u201cconcerned about the overall provision of telecommunications services in correctional facilities across Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the current proceeding has a narrow focus, it has highlighted broader concerns about the rates charged to inmates and their families, as well as the availability of calling options in correctional facilities,\u201d the commission wrote in its decision.<\/p>\n
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