AUSTIN — Texas has slashed prison phone call rates as part of an effort, officials said, to make it cheaper for inmates to communicate with their families.

On Friday, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice board voted to enter into a new Offender Telephone System contract with communications company CenturyLink. Beginning Sept. 1, phone call costs will be cut from 26 cents per minute to 6 cents per minute "no matter the destination of the call."

That means a 15-minute phone call, both in and outside of Texas, will soon cost 90 cents as opposed to $3.90. The new contract will also increase the call cap from 20 to 30 minutes. These changes will apply to all 104 state-run jails and prisons. Each month, 127,000 inmates and 172,000 friends and family place 1.5 million calls through the system, according to the TDCJ.

The state decided to continue with CenturyLink, which has been operating the Offender Telephone System in Texas for years, after a competitive bidding process with several other companies, agency officials said.

Just hearing the sound of a loved one’s voice can change your day, lighten your mood, and even give you inspiration. Establishing and maintaining bonds between friends and families is a key element in the re-entry and rehabilitation programs helping offenders in TDCJ. Now that communication will be easier. The rates charged to offenders and their families for the use of the Offender Telephone System are dropping by 75% off the current per minute charge. A new Offender Telephone System (OTS) contract was formally approved by the Texas Board of Criminal Justice at its monthly meeting this afternoon in Austin. The competitively bid contract was awarded to CenturyLink and the rate charged per minute drops to six cents per minute no matter the destination of the call. A typical 15 minute phone call currently costs about $3.90 but under the new agreement that same call will cost just 90 cents. “The new OTS contract is going to benefit not only family of offenders who are hoping to stay connected, but enhance the agency’s focus on re-entry,” said TDCJ Executive Director Bryan Collier. “The system is used to maintain relationships with friends and family that are a vital part of a successful re-entry and reintegration of offenders into the community.” TDCJ receives no revenue from the system but by law last year more than $15,000,000 from the OTS were contributed to the Texas Crime Victim’s Fund. Posted by Texas Department of Criminal Justice on Friday, August 24, 2018

"I'm still taken aback by the reduction in phone rates. I can't tell you how much that will mean to families," Jennifer Erschabek, executive director of the Texas Inmate Families Association, told board members Friday at their meeting in Austin. She came to express concerns about extreme heat at the state's jails and prisons, the majority of which don't have air conditioning, but she was pleasantly distracted by the vote on phone rates.

"That's just fabulous. Thank you," she added. "It means so much."

CenturyLink will also install equipment to allow video visitation at 12 units in major metro areas, including Hutchins State Jail in Dallas.

"The new OTS contract is going to benefit not only family of offenders who are hoping to stay connected, but enhance the agency's focus on re-entry," TDCJ Executive Director Bryan Collier said in a prepared statement. "The system is used to maintain relationships with friends and family that are a vital part of a successful re-entry and reintegration of offenders into the community."

The vote came just a week after New York City officials voted to make all inmate phone calls free.

CenturyLink receives 60 percent of the proceeds from inmate calls. State law requires the first $10 million of the remaining 40 percent to go to the Texas Crime Victims Fund. Proceeds in excess of that amount are split evenly between the victims fund and the state's general revenue fund. Last year, the TDCJ said more than $15 million in proceeds from inmate phone calls was funneled into the crime victims fund.

Also on Friday, the department's board voted to approve its proposed budget for the next two years. The agency is asking lawmakers for hundreds of millions of dollars to make repairs to the state's jails and prisons, many of which are more than 75 years old, and to improve health care services and increase correctional officer pay. The state Legislature will debate these requests when it meets in January.