When a family member or friend is incarcerated, the phone bill is the last thing you want to worry about. The only issue on your mind is supporting your loved one during this difficult time, but this is not a possibility for Cherie O’Donoghue.

O’Donoghue resides in Manhattan, but has a son in an upstate prison near the border of Canada. The distance from her home to the prison only allows her to visit once a month.

Since her son’s incarceration, she has experienced what other families of inmates in the state of New York have encountered, an “unlegislated” backdoor tax on their phone calls.

More than 80 percent of the state’s prisoners come from poor New York City neighborhoods, according to the Albany-based Center for Law and Justice.

Two-thirds of the prison facilities are located three hours or more from New York City, and phone calls are the only means of keeping in touch.

“Before my son was incarcerated, my phone bills would barely reach $80. Now, I am paying close to $300 monthly,” O’Donoghue told the Amsterdam News.

New York’s prison system has the highest kickbacks to the state and charges among the highest rates in the United States. To provide phone service for the general public, MCI advertises rates as low as $5 per month for service and five cents per minute. For a family member to speak with a loved one in a Department of Corrections facility, the prisoner must call collect at 16 cents per minute after a $3 surcharge.

The average prison phone call is billed at 19 minutes, costing just over $6 and adding up to monthly phone bills close to $400. This constitutes a markup of more than 630 percent.

Under the current single-carrier contract, inmates can only call out collect and prisoners’ families can only receive inmate-generated collect telephone calls using MCI at the state’s negotiated rates, leaving them no choice.

“I told my son I could only talk to him once a week because I can’t afford these rates,” said O’Donoghue. “It’s frustrating that a phone bill is preventing me from speaking to my son on a consistent basis.”

Correction officials said the kickbacks pay for inmate programming, including bus and visiting services, medical care, parole, and the growing jail security issue.

Annette Dickerson, coordinator of the New York Campaign for Telephone Justice, believes that some of the kickbacks do help, but the majority does not.

“The Federal Bureau of Prisons and Rikers Island, both of which are less expensive systems to manage, have the same security issues and use 800 numbers and debit card services,” she said.

“Also, the money that goes back to the state from this contract pays for inmate health care, and that’s egregious because it means families are paying for the healthcare of their loved ones in prison,” concluded Dickerson.

Forty-four states use the same model as New York: monopoly contracts with a single service provider at inflated rates.

California, North Carolina, Nebraska, Indiana, and Missouri have either eliminated or reduced the commissions they get for inmate phone service. Other states have instituted debit calling. Those incarcerated in federal prisons can use an 800 toll-free number that costs seven-cent per minute.

MCI recently implemented a new billing policy that has further outraged family members. Prisoners’ families must pay MCI each time their bill reaches $100, regardless of whether they have paid their bills on time in the past.

MCI gives prisoners’ families the option of putting money down in advance, but for people on limited or fixed incomes that is often not possible. If the payment is not made within 48 hours, the consumer’s phone is blocked from receiving collect calls from prison, and it can take days before service is restored.

“This new policy hurts families who do not have credit cards and cannot ensure that their payments are received within 48 hours,” noted Dickerson, statewide coordinator for the New York Campaign for Telephone Justice. She added, “Other MCI customers have not been targeted in this manner.”

O’Donoghue believes this recently changed contract is unfair and suggests that MCI should work on their service and educate their employees on their plans.

“There have been numerous times where phone calls between me and my son have been terminated and when we reconnect, another connection charge is applied. I have called MCI to complain about these occurrences, but the employees seem to have no idea of what I’m talking about,” said O’Donoghue.

The state’s 71 Department of Corrections-run prison facilities are currently home to 3,335 telephones that allow collect-only calls. Inmates make close to 2 million calls per month. Close to 10 million minutes of phone usage are logged monthly as part of the Inmate Call Home Program. The kickbacks have netted the state close to $200 million since its inception in 1996.

Robert Gangi, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, feels the high charges are unfair.

“The charges applied are grossly out of line and unfairly affect poor people of color who are mainly families of people in prison,” said Gangi.

“It’s also bad corrections practices because the maintenance of family ties helps these prisoners cope with life behind bars and could prevent them from committing further crimes in the future,” concluded Gangi.

A landmark study from the California Department of Corrections and numerous follow-up studies have showed that men and women in prison who maintain relationships with their loved ones are more likely to complete their parole without incident, and have more successful transitions back into the community when they are released.

Last year, the Family Connections Bill was created. The bill passed in the full assembly, but failed to move from the Senate Committee on Crime Victims and Crime and Connection.

Two weeks ago, in a sudden turn of events, relatives of state prisoners scored a key victory when a State Senate committee approved a bill that would ban such contracts in the future, and make the state enter a contract with the lowest bidder, eliminating the 57.5 percent kickback. It would give prisoners an array of choices of phone calls and debit cards, and lower rates of calls.

“I hope with these recent developments that all families won’t have to suffer any longer and will be able to talk to loved ones whenever they please without worrying about high phone charges,” said O’Donoghue.

Dickerson is pleased with the progress, but believes there is one man who could put an end to it all. “This contract is a step in the right direction, but what we need is Governor George Pataki to eliminate this long standing monopoly that is MCI,” concluded Dickerson.

The current MCI contract ends March 31, 2006. State officials and MCI declined to comment for the story.