There is broad consensus on the benefits of prisoners keeping in touch with family and friends back home.
So it was disturbing to read in a Colorado prisons audit that inmates were to make phone calls than the service costs.
In fact, the prison system in 2014 took in $1.53 million more than it cost to run the system, resulting in a 58 percent profit margin.
To be sure, prisons use the profit to pay for prisoner recreational equipment, library resources, cable TV, computers and the like. And there is value in occupying the bodies and minds of inmates, most of whom will return to communities after they serve time.
Nevertheless, charging prisoners $2.90 for a prepaid 15-minute, in-state collect phone call is a lot — especially when inmates in other states using the same provider pay 72 cents or less.
Even though the state Department of Corrections (DOC) uses the money for prisoner benefit, statute and policy prohibit charging far in excess of what a service costs, . Clearly, the DOC should change course.
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