Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Corrections topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Corrections Institute warns of jail capacity pressure and potential loss of training funds if phone commissions end
Summary
The Tennessee Corrections Institute described capacity pressures in local jails, a state per‑diem structure tied to accreditation, and warned an FCC action to curb inmate‑phone commissions could remove $1–1.4M used for local training grants.
William Wall, executive director of the Tennessee Corrections Institute, told the committee local jails are carrying large numbers of state inmates and that accreditation incentives can increase per‑diem payments from a base $41 per day up to $47 or $53 for higher accreditation tiers. He said local capacity is regionalized and that a number of facilities are operating at or above practical capacity thresholds.
Wall also warned that an FCC ruling and vendor responses could threaten revenue streams used for local training grants, estimating a potential loss of roughly $1 million to $1.4 million a year that now gets passed through to local agencies for training, equipment and grants. “Some of the companies are determining that the FCC is if we were getting a commission... we have some companies... saying, no, we don't have to pay that because of the FCC's opinion,” he said, and the institute is seeking an attorney general opinion and monitoring vendor positions.
