ICS Program Objective

Inmate Communication Services (ICS) = Ensuring Transparency and Accountability for Potential Predatory Practices by Inmate Communication Service Providers

• We monitor, report, test and regulate the activity of Inmate Communication Service providers.
  • For our purposes, we are interested in ICS providers that utilize any variety of technology to relay communications from a person within a correctional or penal institution to a person who is outside of the facility
  • Technology such as, but not limited to:
    • Land Line Telecommunications
    • E messaging and chirping
    • Video by way of tablet or kiosk
    • VOIP
  • We regulate at the state, city, and county levels. We do not regulate federal facilities or Youth Department of Corrections facilities 
     
• The main purposes of our regulatory efforts:
  • Field consumer complaints and offer timely resolution methodology
    • Track the providers that are receiving complaints, understand and track the types of complaints being made, and find resolutions between the ICS providers and their consumers
    • Identify trends that occur to better understand the struggles facing the consumers within this market
  • Biannual Quality Testing on the systems and technologies being utilized within inmate facilities
    • Understanding to what level the systems and technologies are functioning at, within any given facility 
    • To monitor and ensure that the FCC intrastate ancillary rate caps are being practiced and upheld on the systems themselves (ensuring practices match what is being reported)
  • Ending the practice of a department or facility receiving any commission from the ICS Provider except as much is necessary to pay for calling costs and the direct and indirect costs incurred by the department in managing the calling system.
  • Create a greater sense of transparency in this industry by way of publishing quarterly and annual reports.
    • Quarterly reports are utilized to monitor and ensure FCC ancillary rate caps are being adhered to; we also publish the contractual agreements between all facilities and providers along with unclaimed funds policies per each individual ICS Provider.
    • Annual reports will be an amalgamation of all the data received through a given year including the quarterly reporting data, the findings of our biannual quality testing, the trends in consumer complaints, the identification of problematic practices or technology with proposed resolutions, and the compliance or noncompliance of all ICS providers within Colorado regarding commissions and the set FCC intrastate ancillary charging caps