The Federal Communications Commission voted this fall to hike rate caps for phone and video calls that incarcerated people and their families can be charged, rescinding a reform implemented under the Biden administration.
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares was among state AGs who previously challenged the rate ceilings, saying it compromised law enforcement’s ability to effectively monitor communications.
Despite the rollback, the Virginia Department of Corrections and Assisting Families of Inmates in July announced lower-cost video calls, dropping the fee from 15 to 12 cents per minute — almost half the current federal cap. The agency’s phone rates, too, are among the lowest in the country at $0.0409 per minute.
But in the Commonwealth after legislative attempts to make the calls free, a patchwork of companies serve local and state facilities based on individual agreements. Securus Technologies and GTL are among the most common, and in total have contributed to at least six candidates for sheriff across the state since 2014, according to data from the Virginia Public Access Project. Sheriffs in the Commonwealth oversee local jail facilities, though any public entity contracting for services in Virginia must use a public selection process.
Securus contributed $1,500 this year to the campaign of Chesapeake Sheriff Dave Rosado, who lost his recent re-election bid and is currently being investigated for potential Hatch Act violations. And GTL has made more than $15,000 in contributions since 2016 to Chesterfield County Sheriff Karl Leonard. Most recently, in April, the company — which provides service to the county jail — gave $2,000 to Leonard’s re-election committee, though he was not on the November ballot.
At the state level, incarceration remains an expensive proposition as people in custody purchase everything from toiletries to food in order to supplement meals that VADOC serves. Nicole Deyo — founder of Bending the Bars, a nonprofit prison reform group — said companies working with correctional facilities are focused on profits.
“It is not based off of the need to keep people connected,” Deyo said about communications rates, while discussing expenses incarcerated people and their families incur. “It's based off of the profit — the bottom-line profit. There's a lot of money that is made between JPay, GTL and Keffe for the commissary.”
Democrats in the Virginia legislature have made efforts over the years to limit communications costs in local jails and state prisons, including proposals in 2022 and 2024 to make phone and video calls free. Neither became law, though a range of research has concluded that when incarcerated people have more interactions with family and friends outside the system, they’re less likely to reoffend following release. At least six other states have made the calls free.
Another Virginia bill directing correctional facilities to charge the “lowest available rates” was passed in 2024.
Michelle Griffin said she has a family member who’s been incarcerated for years at various VADOC facilities. Calls and visits have kept them connected.
“They feel like they're totally lost in a system,” she said about people serving sentences. “Involving them and making them feel part of the family is when that healing starts to begin. People need that.”
Members of law enforcement agree, including VADOC Director Chadwick Dotston and Charles Craddock — president of the National Coalition of Safety Officers in Virginia, which represents VADOC corrections officers. Craddock recently advocated for lower-cost communications while discussing how staffing shortages can create unsafe conditions in Virginia prisons.
VADOC spokesperson Kyle Gibson didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Wanda Bertram, communications strategist for the Prison Policy Initiative, has researched communications pricing and followed developments at the FCC. She pointed out that federal rate caps represent the ceiling, not the minimum cost that can be charged.
“Having those services be provided via revenue that is being paid by incarcerated people and their families is regressive,” Bertram said. “It's taking something that is a public good — which is surveillance of people's communications while they're [incarcerated], which allows for law enforcement — and it's saying, ‘Incarcerated people and their families, you get to pay for this.’ In my opinion, that's just not sensible policy.”
Sanctioned calls in and out VADOC facilities are monitored, unless an incarcerated person files a waiver for speaking with their legal representative — though that system’s sometimes circumvented by the use of contraband phones smuggled into facilities.
Earlier this year, Miyares and 22 other attorneys general sent a letter to FCC Chairperson Brendan Carr voicing support for an agency proposal that would allow targeted contraband cellphone jamming.
The letter said a “proliferation of contraband cellphones in prisons and jails” is contributing to illicit activities, and puts both corrections staff and the public at risk. Some reform advocates disagreed, pointing to information shared by incarcerated people via contraband phones that’s reached the public.
Christopher Willars, a formerly incarcerated activist and digital creator, said contraband phones can lead to issues among people at correctional facilities. Despite that, Willars — who served more than 15 years in Virginia prisons and now resides in Georgia — called communications costs “predatory.”
“When it comes to rehabilitation, individuals need to be connected to their loved ones. And you're automatically creating an obstacle when it comes to having to put money on the phone,” Willars said. “A lot of people's loved ones, they may not have $25 or $50. Simple to some people, to so many not.”
Read more at Red Onion Resources.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.