Westmoreland County braces for revenue drop as FCC caps inmate calling fees

Westmoreland officials are bracing for what could be a substantial cut in revenue generated through phone and video calls made by county prison inmates.

A new rule issued earlier this month by the Federal Communications Commission limits the amount private companies can charge inmates for calling services. Those new rules reduced billing rates and eliminated surcharges that in some cases amounted to a nearly $7 minimum for each call.

The county originally signed an agreement in 2017 with Virginia-based Global Tel-Link that’s been amended more than a dozen times. The county agreed in October 2021 to allow Global Tel-Link to continue operations at the Hempfield lockup through the end of this year for a minimum of $530,000 paid up front each year.

The county also receives additional monthly payments for commissions of up to 85% of gross revenue related to calls that exceed monthly projections. So far in 2024, it received an additional $26,500 through June from extra call revenue.

There also is a 10% charge on inmate video visits conducted on tablets provided by the company.

According to the county’s inmate handbook, there is a $2.95 surcharge and 20 cents per minute fee for all local calls, with increasing fees for long distance and those made to out-of-state recipients. Inmates are billed 25 cents per minute for video calls using tablets provided at the facility.

“It’s way too early to say what this will mean, but in terms of what I’ve seen over the years, it’s probably bad news for us,” said Commissioner Ted Kopas about the new FCC rules.

The new rules will limit medium-sized facilities such as the Westmoreland County Prison to charge inmates no more than 7 cents per minute for audio calls and 12 cents per minute for video calls. Larger jails and state and federal prisons can charge inmates up to 6 cents per minute for audio calls.

An inmate’s 20 minute local call that now costs about $12 would be billed at just $4 under the new rules.

Inmates are required to prepay for calls through funds deposited to their jail financial accounts by family and friends. Inmate funds also can be used to pay for snacks, hygiene products and other items sold by the jail’s commissary.

The revised phone rates must be implemented by April.

County solicitor Melissa Guiddy said details of how the changes will be applied have yet to be determined.

Representatives from Global Tel Link Corp. could not be reached for comment.

The county’s phone deal expires in January. It was extended two years after a previous FCC fee reduction. The revised deal called for the company to provide additional tablets to allow every inmate to have one while in the facility.

Inmates pay fees for tablet access. The tablets can be used for calls, as well as entertainment such as renting movies, games, messaging and music streaming.

As of Monday, there were 592 inmates incarcerated at the jail. Capacity at the jail is just more than 700 inmates. In June, the jail averaged 552 inmates, a nearly 3% increase over the previous year.