The Butler County Prison Board on Tuesday voted to request proposals for inmate phone, video and other communication services due to a federal rule going into effect in a few weeks that significantly reduces the commission that prisons receive from service contractors.

Going into effect April 6 is a Federal Communications Commission rule limiting the amount prisons can charge inmates for phone calls and video visitation.

Under the rule, medium sized prisons, such as the Butler County Prison, can charge inmates 10 cents per minute for making phone calls as well as a 2-cent-per-minute commission and 17 cents per minute for video visitation as well as a 2-cent commission.

The jail now charges inmates 21 cents per minute for phone calls and keeps 80%, or about 16 cents, as commission; and charges 19 cents per minute for video visitation and keeps 50% as commission.

In January, inmates logged $29,003 in billable hours in phone use and the county’s commission was $23,202. If the new rates had been in place then, total billable hours would have been $16,656 and the county’s commission would have been $2,776, warden Beau Sneddon said at a board meeting in February.

Smart Communications, the jail’s inmate communication services provider whose contract expires Jan. 24, 2027, has offered a one-year extension offer containing the new FCC rates. The company is also offering rates for services not regulated by the FCC, including computer tablets, entertainment, photos and e-messaging. The entertainment service allows inmates to rent movies and listen to radio and certain podcasts.

The jail currently charges 50 cents per e-message and $1 per photo and keeps a 5% commission on both, deputy warden Justin Baptiste said Tuesday. For entertainment, the prison charges 1 cent per minute and keeps a 50% commission, he said.

Smart’s contract extension offer would increase the entertainment cost to 5 cents per minute and provides no commission on e-messaging, photos and entertainment, Baptiste said. Smart’s offer includes providing one tablet for each inmate. Currently there is one tablet for every three inmates.

The extension offer from Smart also would give the jail $30,000 a month, or $360,000 a year, for the unregulated services. Last year, the jail received $361,000 in total commission, Baptiste said.

“For the unregulated services they would just pay us $30,000 a month, just a flat $30,000 a month. For us, it would be almost identical to what we’re making now,” Baptiste said.

Baptiste said the board could approve the contract extension, use that year to find out how other prisons and their communication providers address the FCC regulations, and then issue a request for proposals. He said the jail would begin receiving the $30,000 a month in April if the extension is approved.

Controller Ben Holland said the jail might as well advertise for requests for proposals now.

“I just feel like we’re going to do it anyway. So what’s buying a year going to do,” Holland said.

Baptiste said he would ask Smart to provide the $30,000 monthly payment through the end of the year if the board didn’t approve the contract extension.

County Commissioner Leslie Osche said the commission from the communications contract is deposited into the inmate welfare fund, which is used to provide health care, dental care and items such as mattresses for inmates.

The board also approved a $41,200, two-year extension of a service agreement with Tek84 for two body scanners. The extension requires the jail to pay even if a scanner breaks down and is out of service. The company offered a five-year extension, but the two-year option is less risky, officials said.