The United Church of Christ’s media justice ministry, OC Inc., has been working to put a stop to the predatory rates that beleaguer families, friends, and pastors seeking to communicate with people in prison.  As our fact sheet explains, families can spend up to $300 per month for a weekly one hour phone call to someone in prison.  The Federal Communications can put an end to the practice, and has been considering a petition for ten years asking for help.  The so-called Wright petition, named for Martha Wright, the grandmother who filed the petition asks the FCC to cap phone rates at 25 cents per minute.

This year UCC OC Inc. and our allies have taken a number of steps to push the FCC to act.  In the spring we collaborated with conservative leaders to submit a detailed letter to the FCC–demonstrating that this issue has bipartisan support.  In June the UCC’s Justice and Peace Action Network, The United Methodists and the Center for Media Justice collaborated on a call-in day in honor of Father’s Day that tripled the FCC’s typical daily call volume.  Over the summer, the press began to pay attention to prisoners’ letterswritten to the FCC.  This month, a coalition of civil rights leaders met with the FCC Chairman himself, asking him to complete decision-making by the 10th anniversary of Martha Wright’s original petition–which was filed in March 2003.  After that meeting, activists flooded the FCC Chairman’s Twitter chat with questions about when the FCC will act, prompting a Twitter response from the Chairman. (Follow UCC OC Inc. on Twitter to keep updated).  Right afterward, two key members of Congress wrote a letter emphasizing the importance of action.

In addition, we have some exciting reinforcements coming from Hollywood.  Participant Media is releasing a film next month called Middle of Nowhere, and it will highlight the plight of individuals in prison.  They have chosen the prison phone rates issue as a social action campaign to accompany the film’s release. Stay tuned for more opportunities to discuss the issue.  And if you haven’t seen the phone justice campaign’s action toolkit,download it now.

If you haven’t yet, don’t forget to sign up with UCC’s media justice team to get updates on how you can help.