Court Rejects Claim For Prison Call Refunds
Posted on Tuesday, 24 of November , 2009 at 8:46 pm
ALBANY—The state’s highest court has ruled that families who were forced to pay exorbitant telephone rates to talk to relatives and their loved ones incarcerated in state prison won’t receive any refunds.
Families of inmates had first sued the state Department of Correctional Services in 2004, seeking an order prohibiting the state and Verizon/MCI from charging exorbitant rates to the family members of prisoners to finance a 57.5% kickback to the state.
The legal challenge in Walton v. NYSDOCS was brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights and prisoners’ advocates.
Verizon/MCI was charging these family members a 630% markup over consumer rates to receive a collect call from their loved ones, the only method of calling from a DOCS institution.
The rates under this contract charge family members 630% more than typical consumer rates to talk with loved ones in New York State Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) prisons. New York State gets a 57.5% kickback on the phone company’s profits.
In January, 2007, on the eve of a scheduled argument before the Court of Appeals by the Center for Constitutional Rights to stop state government and the telephone service provider from charging exorbitant phone rates to families of prisoners, thenGov. Eliot Spitzer announced the state will voluntarily reduce rates.
Long seen as an unfair tax on inmate families, the new rates charged only the cost of the call, allowing families to maintain contact with their loved ones, without the undue financial burden of a State commission on the rate.
The state was sued by inmates’ families in an attempt to obtain refunds.
In a 5-1 decision Monday, the Court has ruled that families’ failed to bring forth legitimate constitutional claims in their assertion that the state’s contract with MCI was unconstitutional and affirmed the dismissal of Walton v. NYS Department of Correctional Services. http://www.nycourts.gov/ctapps/decisions/2009/nov09/149opn09.pdf
“Though we are gratified by the policy changes that have come about since Walton was filed, this is a major disappointment”, a spokesperson for the Center for Constitutional Rights said. “Even after the decade-long struggle for justice, the families and loved ones of New York State prisoners still feel the effect of the illegal taxes levied on them for years as a result of MCI and Verizon’s monopoly contract and DOCS’ kickbacks, and they deserved to be compensated. This letdown should not, however, hamper the work being done to end this unconstitutional practice across the country.”
The case challenged the legality of an arrangement whereby the Department of Correctional Services raised millions in revenue by awarding a monopoly contract to the company that built the highest kickback into its bid to provide phone service to prisoners and their families in New York State.
The case asked the court to declare the practice unconstitutional and sought compensation for years of what attorneys argued was an unlawful tax. Over the last decade, CCR has worked with a coalition of prison families and advocates who together succeeded in convincing former Governor Spitzer to end the kickback and the legislature to outlaw the practice.
Attorneys say the State’s profits from prison telephone calls was an unlegislated and illegal tax that came out of the pockets of the disproportionately poor families and friends of people in prison. Under the monopoly contract, families paid $3 to receive a call and 16 cents per minute, with multiple surcharges common. Some family members paid bills totaling more than $15,000 over the course of the contract. While recent victories have brought the cost of a prison call down to under five cents a minute with no connection fee, many still feel the effects, according to recent contacts with affected families.
Learn more about Walton v. NYSDOCS and the New York Campaign for Telephone Justice. 11-24-09
Category: Constitution, Consumers, Courts, Government, New York State
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