CRTC looking into rates for phone calls at correctional facilities across Canada after Ontario case

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is looking into the rates for phone calls at correctional facilities across the country, spurred by high long-distance charges that families of inmates at Ontario jails had to pay for years.A proposed class-action lawsuit against the province and Bell, which ran the phone system in the province’s jails from 2013 to 2021, alleges that the charges were exorbitant, with a flat rate of $1 for local calls and about $1 per minute plus a $2.50 connection fee for long-distance calls.