Prisoner Phone Service Providers Cannot Block Call Routing Service Calls
Prisoner Phone Service Providers Cannot Block Call Routing Service Calls
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) entered an order that concluded inmate calling services (ICS) providers are not authorized to block prisoners’ calls to persons who subscribe to call routing services.
The September 26, 2013 order denied a petition by Securus Technologies, Inc. seeking a declaratory ruling that “call diversion schemes are a form of dial-around calling which Securus is permitted to block,” under existing FCC precedent.
At issue were services that friends and family of prisoners use to pay rates for local ICS calls, avoiding higher rates for long distance ICS calls. The FCC said that the blocking of telephone calls is antithetical to its fundamental goal of making available “rapid, efficient, Nation-wide and world-wide wire radio communications services with adequate facilities.”
Current precedent does allow ICS providers to block “800” and “950” access calls, but extending this precedent to all call routing services does not follow. The call routing services in question are not “operator services” that include “automatic or live assistance to a consumer.” Rather, “for the calling party, the routed call is completed in a seamless manner.” Additionally, those services are not used by the prisoner, but they are subscribed to by the call recipient.
As such, the services are not operator services that fall into any exception to allow call blocking, and the Securus petition was denied. Thus, call routing services that recipients of prisoner-initiated calls subscribe to may not be blocked to prevent the call. See: In re Policies and Rules Concerning Operator Service Providers, DA 13-1990, F.C.C., WC Docket 09-144.
Related legal case
In re Policies and Rules Concerning Operator Service Providers
| Year | 2013 |
|---|---|
| Cite | DA 13-1990, F.C.C., WC Docket 09-144 |
| Level | Administrative Agency |
| Injunction Status | Denied |