Action for Prisoners' Families: Prisoner launches legal challenge on phone costs

A prisoner has launched a legal challenge to stop inmates being charged more than five times the public payphone rate for phone calls.

Mr Davison, an inmate from HMP Elmley is supported by the charity Action for Prisoners' Families which believes that the exorbitant costs have a negative effect on family ties.
The burgeoning prison population means that prisoners are held further away from home leaving them increasingly reliant on the phone as a means of staying in touch.

The Home Office acknowledges that good family ties can significantly reduce re-offending. However, almost half of people in prison lose contact with their families during their sentence.

Lucy Gampell, Director of Action for Prisoners' Families said: "Phone calls are a lifeline for families of prisoners, but the exorbitant cost of calls means that prisoners are limited to brief conversations. If a prisoner has more than one child, the limited time means it can be very difficult to speak to each one. Innocent children and families are being penalised by these charges. Around a quarter of families only use mobile phones and these costs are even more expensive."

For more information please contact: Sam Hart on 0208 812 3600 or 07740531250
Notes to editors
1. Leigh Day & Co solicitors have issued the judicial review on behalf of Mr Davison

2. Prisoners currently pay 10p for the first 55 seconds of a call, then 1p per every 5.5 seconds thereafter for local or national calls to landlines. The cost of calls from British Telecom public payphones is 40p for the first 20 minutes followed by 10p for each subsequent 10 minutes.

3. This means that if a prisoner was to spend 40p on a call, they would get just 3 minutes 40 seconds of call time. Whilst a person spending 40p using a public payphone would receive 20 minutes of call time - over five times more.

4. An Ombudsman's report in August 2006, upheld Mr Davison's complaint and recommended that the Prison Service reopen negotiations with British Telecom over the cost of telephone calls.