As we noted early this year, the Federal Communications Commission heeded public pressure, and issued a proposal to reform predatory prison phone rates.  Early this week was the official beginning of the public comment period.  UCC OC Inc. and its allies filed at the FCC to oppose these unconscionable rates.

“Predatory prison phone rates are a moral issue,” said Earl Williams, chairs the board of the United Church of Christ Office of Communication, Inc. “We strongly urge the FCC to take rapid steps to lower the price of long-distance rates that can prevent children from calling their fathers, grandmothers from calling their grandsons and pastors from calling their congregants.”

UCC OC Inc. is collecting endorsements from religious organizations and clergy to oppose the practice, and will be organizing for a Father's Day action, reprising last year's successful effort.  Please add your name or organizational endorsement.  This letter will be filed next month at the FCC. 

Earlier this year, Rev. Sala Nolan-Gonzales testified at Rainbow/PUSH's hearing on the topic . She spoke from her long experience visiting prisons every day, talking about the small amount of money prisoners receive for the work they perform while incarcerated.   In addition, Rev. Nolan-Gonzales described the long-standing UCC effort in solidarity with Hawaiian men who are in federal prison at Saguaro, in Arizona, removed from their families and spiritual advisors by more than 4,000 miles. She closed her moving statement as follows:

95% of prisoners return to community. As community members, it is in our best interest to help them through this process so they return to us with some semblance of family and personal connections. If we cannot help them, at the very least, we should do no more harm. Current phone charges are destructive and cruel. They need to be regulated.   

The statement below can be attributed to Earl Williams, chair, and Cheryl A. Leanza, policy advisor, United Church of Christ, Office of Communication, Inc.:

Chairman Genachowski leaves behind him a string of accomplishments and a long to-do list for his successor.  We commend his early work to bring a comprehensive and long-overdue focus on bringing high-speed broadband Internet to all people, including low-income and underserved populations.  In contrast, we've been disappointed on the lack of focus on issues important to us and to the civil rights community.   While Internet access is important, it cannot address structural impediments to a diverse and accountable media.  It does not bring down the exorbitant rates that families pay to reach their loved ones in prison.  And as the FCC focuses now on persuading television stations to give up their spectrum so it can be used for new mobile devices, it appears that television ownership by women and people of color are suffering further decimation in the process. 

We urge the Administration to appoint a new Chair, and Acting Chair, who understands personally the broad diversity of this country and can quickly get to work on these issues. 

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The United Church of Christ is a faith community rooted in justice. It established the Office of Communication, Inc. in 1959 as its ministry working to replace the media we have with the media we need to create a just society.   Learn more about UCC OC Inc. at www.uccmediajustice.org.

The Cleveland-based United Church of Christ has 5,700 local congregations across the United States. It was formed by the 1957 union of the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church.