Ajit Pai accused of conflict for helping former client, a prison phone company

Enlarge / FCC Chairman Ajit Pai listens during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on June 20, 2017. (credit: Getty Images | Bloomberg)

A prisoners' rights group has accused Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai of having a conflict of interest because he used to represent a prison phone company as a lawyer.

Under Pai's direction, the FCC dropped its court defense of rules capping the intrastate phone rates charged to prisoners. The decision helped prison phone companies-including Pai's former client, Securus Technologies-continue to charge high prices.

Pai "represented Securus as its attorney while employed as a partner with the law firm of Jenner & Block, LLP, immediately preceding his confirmation as FCC Commissioner in May 2012," Human Rights Defense Center Executive Director Paul Wright wrote in a filing with the commission yesterday.

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