FCC Prison Call Costs, Crime Data Report & More

"Exorbitant costs and fees heighten depression, isolation and loneliness among incarcerated individuals — actively harming them instead of providing any discernible benefit."

If approved next month, a new rule proposed by the FCC would significantly lower costs for phone calls correctional facilities, where incarcerated people and their families are often charged exorbitant rates. The move comes following the passage of the Martha Reed-Wright Just and Reasonable Communications Act of 2022, which empowered the FCC to regulate communications from correctional facilities. 

“We need to know what the facts are, so elected leaders can solve the problem as it exists, not as it’s messaged.”
 
When the FBI next releases comprehensive crime data, the figures will be 18 months old. A new report from the Council on Criminal Justice explains why this is a major problem for American policymakers and the public and makes recommendations to improve the nation's understanding of and response to crime, make more timely monthly reporting a top priority, increase participation in data collection mechanisms, and increase collaboration between agencies that report crime data.

"In March, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration took issue with how much it would cost to get California’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in compliance."

Many California employers will soon be subject to heat-related regulations as the state becomes the third in the nation to require indoor workplaces to monitor workers and provide heat-mitigation measures when temperatures rise, but one industry is conspicuously exempt from the regulations. Corrections facilities won't be required to comply with the new requirements after the state fought for an exemption, asserting that keeping prison operations in line with the new requirements would be too costly.
 
“The state keeps track of kids in so many different ways, but the systems weren’t talking to each other.” 
 
A new law that Colorado policymakers have called a Bill of Rights for justice-impacted youth will increase communication between state departments with the intent of getting kids who leave the justice system back into school quicker, help them earn credit for school work they did while in the system, and set them on a path toward graduation. The law, signed by Governor Jared Polis earlier this year, is in the midst of implementation, which is expected to wrap up in 2025. 

“It’s a reminder of the compassion and the humanity of people who, yes, they’re serving a sentence for violating a law or several possibly but that we still need to be understanding of where they are at their end of life." 

A bill expanding medical parole is headed to Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer this week after it passed both chambers of the legislature with a bipartisan margin. Once signed, the legislation will expand parole eligibility to people in prison who are seriously disabled or terminally ill with a life expectancy under 18 months.