House Corrections and Institutions reviews H.294 changes to inmate phone, tablet and commissary services

The House Corrections and Institutions Committee on Thursday, April 17, heard Department of Corrections officials review the provisions of H.294 that address inmate telecommunications, commissary operations and related compensation and account issues.

The bill discussion matters because it touches communications access for incarcerated people, family costs, vendor contracts and possible state budget implications if the state chooses to subsidize calls or messaging.

Kristin Calvert, deputy commissioner of corrections, told the committee that incarcerated people currently access three primary communication types: phone calls, tablet messages and tablet video calls. Calvert said those connections are routed through an approved-call list reviewed by caseworkers for victim-sensitivity and similar restrictions. She said typical current prices shown to the committee were about 6¢ per minute for phone calls, 25¢ per tablet message and “just over 2¢” for video calls per day, and that new Federal Communications Commission rules have required changes to how commissions and rates are handled.

Calvert also described an ongoing vendor transition. The current vendor providing phone and tablet services is ViaPath; the new vendor contract will be with IC Solutions and will run to January 2033, she said. She described a roughly…