Bell Canada made more than $64 million in gross revenues from calls made by inmates at Ontario jails — at "exorbitant" rates, lawyers allege in a lawsuit — and gave nearly $39 million of that to the province as commission, according to new disclosures from the telecom giant.
Bell charged $1 per minute plus a $2.50 connection fee for long-distance calls through the Offender Telephone Management System that it operated in Ontario jails from 2013 to 2021.
The phone system only allowed inmates to place collect calls, and lawyers are seeking compensation for the families who had to foot those bills. More than 80 per cent of the people in Ontario’s correctional facilities are awaiting trial and are presumptively innocent.