Email haggler@nytimes.com. Keep it brief and family-friendly, include your hometown and go easy on the caps-lock key. Letters may be edited for clarity and length.

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The Haggler generally takes letters from consumers, but in this episode we hear from a consumer advocate. Specifically, an advocate for a narrow niche of consumers: prisoners. Is there a species of man as fond of quixotic causes, as accustomed to frustration, as inured to rejection? The Haggler submits that the answer is no. This is a line of work where the headaches must outnumber the victories by a factor of 100.

So would it kill you to lend an ear to Peter Wagner, of the Prison Policy Initiative?

Probably not.

Q. For most people, talking on the phone is cheap. But for many families with a loved one behind bars, astronomical phone bills mean they have to choose between covering their living expenses and staying in touch.

The problem is that prisons and jails give companies like the industry leader, Global Tel Link, monopoly contracts in exchange for a share of the proceeds. The companies tack on additional fees to accept, hold and even refund a customer’s money. (Incarcerated people, or their loved ones and friends, create accounts with the companies, and pay for minutes in advance.) Global Tel Link, for example, charges $9.50 to make a $50 deposit, and $5 to issue a refund when someone is released from prison or jail. It’s hard to understand why Global Tel Link’s fees are so high, given that the company has 57 percent of the state prison market and its smaller competitors charge far lower fees.