BONNIE WATSON COLEMAN 
12TH DISTRICT, NEW JERSEY 
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The Honorable Tom Wheeler 
Chairman 
Federal Communications Commission 
445 12th Street, SW 
Washington, DC 20554 
Dear Chairman Wheeler: 
January 13, 2015 
126 CANNON HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING 
WASHINGTON, DC 20515 
(202) 225-5801 
I write to express my enthusiastic support for the Federal Communication Commission's efforts to 
regulate private companies that provide interstate telephone service for prison and jail inmates. As a 
result of these efforts, families will hopefully no longer have to choose between paying for essential 
household needs and maintaining contact with an incarcerated loved one. 
Research suggests that inmates who maintain a relationship with their families while incarcerated are 
less likely to return to prison after their release. Yet, the exorbitant and unreasonable cost of making a 
phone call remains an impediment to maintaining that relationship, placing an unfair tax, not on the 
offender, but the family attempting to support the offender's rehabilitation. 
Equally reprehensible is the fact that some states have added to this practice of legalized price gouging 
by willingly accepting a commission from the private companies that provide prison phone service. This 
seemingly "free money" in state budgets adds to the costs for families while simultaneously serving as a 
disincentive to stop the price gouging by these companies. The New Jersey Institute for Social Justice 
suggests that a 15 minute in state call from a county jail in New Jersey costs $8.50 while a similar call in 
New York where commissions have been eliminated, costs just 72 cents. 
While serving as the Majority Leader in the New Jersey General Assembly in 2008, I sponsored a series 
of hearings aimed at improving "re-entry" for the formerly incarcerated and finding meaningful 
solutions to cut state spending related to incarceration. These hearings produced countless hours of 
testimony related to the burden created by the high costs of making a call from prison. 
I applaud the Federal Communications Commission's efforts to cap interstate calls and require 
companies to base charges on the actual costs of providing service. The Commission's work in this area 
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will go a long way in moving our nation's prison system closer to a system of rehabilitation where fam ily 
contact and parental interaction is valued. 
Thank you for your consideration. 
Bonnie Watson Coleman 
Member of Congress