Butler County Prison

The Butler County prison board Tuesday approved an amendment to the inmate phone system contract reflecting federally mandated lower rates for inmates and a lower commission for the county.

Board members approved the amendment with Smart Communications that will remain in effect until the contract expires Jan. 24, 2027.

The amendment includes rate changes mandated by the Federal Communications Commission that went into effect April 6.

“All this basically changes is it brings our video visits and our inmate phones into FCC compliance,” Warden Beau Sneddon said.

Smart Communications will now charge inmates 10 cents per minute for making phone calls and 17 cents per minute for video visitation, and the county will charge a 2-cent commission for both services.

The jail had been charging inmates 21 cents per minute for phone calls and kept 80%, or about 16 cents, as commission; and 19 cents per minute for video visitation and kept 50% as commission.

The company will pay the county $30,000 a month in lieu of commission for inmate services not regulated by the FCC that include e-messaging, photos and entertainment. The payments will total $360,000 per year, which is near the $361,000 the county used to receive as commission.

At last month’s meeting, the board agreed to issue a request for proposals for phone system vendors to have a contractor in place after the current contract expires.

Sneddon said the request for proposals is being finalized and should be ready to be advertised in a matter of days. He said he expects the bid opening to take place in June.

County Commissioner Leslie Osche, vice president of the prison board, said the request for proposals will have to be approved by the commissioners before it is advertised.

In addition, Sneddon said installation of the new radio system will begin Monday and it should be operational in mid-May. The prison purchased the new system to replace the existing system because it does not allow prison personnel to communicate with 911 and outside law enforcement agencies.

“For the first time in, I couldn’t tell you how long, we’ll have direct communication with outside agencies,” Sneddon said.

He said the new radios and all the equipment needed to operate them have been delivered and the 911 center has programmed the radios.

The old radio system will remain operational for a few days after the new system goes online to make sure it is working properly, he added.

The prison purchased 74 radios for $354,432 and an antenna for $158,175 for the new system.