Prisoners' phone bills too high says watchdog

Prisoners in England, Scotland and Wales have been paying too much for their phone calls while in jail, according to telecoms watchdog Ofcom.

Following an investigation, Ofcom has ruled that prisoners in Ministry of Justice jails are paying more than their counterparts in managed institutions.

Ofcom noted: "Our analysis shows that in Her Majesty's Prison Service (HMPS) and the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) managed prisons, the average price of a call to a UK number is 60p. If the same calls were made using the rates applied in Serco managed prisons [Serco runs four contracted-out prisons] the average price would be between 48 and 51p."

"We consider that there is some evidence that the price of telephone calls made by prisoners in England, Wales and Scotland appear to be high," it added.

The regulator's decision on prison pricing follows a 'super-complaint' earlier this year about pricing from the National Consumer Council, Scottish Consumer Council and Welsh Consumer Council with the support of the Prison Reform Trust.

The consumer bodies filed a complaint in June, alleging the costs of prisoners' phone calls was out of proportion with the cost of providing the service.

According to Juliet Lyon, director of Prison Reform Trust, the prohibitive cost of jail phone calls has had a negative effect on the prisoners themselves.

She said in a statement: "The high cost of prison phone calls makes family contact much harder, even though family support is a lifeline for some prisoners and those who do keep in touch are less likely to reoffend."

The prospect of a contract renegotiation between the prison services and their telecoms suppliers is now on the table.

Ofcom said in its decision: "We invite the MoJ [Ministry of Justice], which encompasses HMPS and the SPS to consider whether it would be appropriate to open negotiations with BT and Siemens to reduce the price of calls under the current contract. Renegotiation may have implications for the prices charged by the service providers and/or the commission structure received by the SPS/MoJ which we have not considered in detail in this investigation."

BT supplies HMPS's phone system, Siemens is the SPS's vendor.

BT said: "The system is unique to the needs of the prison estate and is not comparable to our public payphones. BT has a very good working relationship with HMPS on the implementation and management of this system. BT and HMPS commenced discussions earlier this year to review call charges and we will continue to work closely with HMPS to explore opportunities for reducing call prices."

Siemens added: "We have worked very closely with Ofcom on this enquiry and shared all relevant information with them. As we stated when the enquiry opened, because of the advanced security features in the system, it is sophisticated and the pricing model reflects this. Siemens manages the technology and public network connections and charges the prison service in accordance with the contract against terms specified by the Scottish Prison Service."