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Sheriff proposes steep cuts to jail phone rates; Board committee forwards contract amendment with Global Tel Link
Summary
Sheriff presented a plan to reduce inmate telephone rates (examples: inter-LATA 15-minute call from $13.35 to $4.05, local 15-minute call from $4.45 to $2.75) and to renegotiate the county's Global Tel Link contract; Public Defender Jeff Adachi and advocates supported the moves. The committee forwarded the amendment with a positive recommendation to the full board.
Sheriff Merkiremi told the Government Audit and Oversight Committee that the Sheriff’s Department is proposing a series of changes to the county’s contract with Global Tel Link designed to reduce what he called predatory telephone rates for incarcerated people and lessen the financial burden on their families.
The sheriff presented a slide showing proposed rate reductions across call tiers. As the presentation put it, an inter-LATA 15‑minute call priced at about $13.35 under the current contract could be reduced to roughly $4.05 — a 70 percent cut — and a local 15‑minute call priced at about $4.45 could be reduced to about $2.75. The sheriff framed the changes as consistent with broader rehabilitation goals: “We want people to preserve ties with their families and loved ones while they’re incarcerated,” he said, arguing that expensive calls undercut reentry and family reunification.
Public Defender Jeff Adachi told the committee the current system functions as a monopoly that disproportionately burdens poor families; he said 80 percent of people charged in criminal cases are indigent and families are often left paying “exorbitant” bills. Adachi referenced state legislation (AB 1876) that would ban commissions for calls to state facilities and urged that San Francisco lead locally.
The committee allowed public comment during the item and later moved item 35 forward with a positive recommendation to the full Board of Supervisors. The clerk’s item description said the proposed amendment would extend the Global Tel Link contract term to May 31, 2015 and modify commissions and an additional annual payment that would generate $3 million of revenue over a five‑year term.
Committee members expressed support for pursuing both contractual changes and broader reforms (including exploring zeroing local call fees). The sheriff acknowledged federal reforms under way at the Federal Communications Commission affect interstate calls but stressed that those changes touch only a small share of the county’s volume and leave most local-tier calls untouched.
The committee forwarded the item to the full board with a positive recommendation.
