FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
A class action is a type of lawsuit in which one or more individuals, called the “Class Representatives,” sue on behalf of other people who have similar claims. These other people are called “Class Members” and collectively “the Class.” In a class action, the court resolves the relevant legal issues, claims, and defenses for all Class Members in one lawsuit. The final outcome of the lawsuit, whether favorable to the Class or to the defendant, is binding on all Class Members except for those who ask to be excluded from the Class. More information on excluding yourself from the Class is provided below.
On May 27, 2022, the court certified two subclasses. Subclass 1 is defined as “all inmates, who are incarcerated in correctional facilities owned or operated by the State of Alaska Department of Corrections.” Subclass 2 is defined as “all people who, at any time between June 1, 2018 and the present, paid more than 50 cents for a local call made by someone in the custody of the State’s Department of Corrections.”
If you received a Notice of Pending Class Action, you have been identified as a potential member of Subclass 2.
This Lawsuit challenges the charges for local, intrastate, and interstate telephone calls placed by inmates in the custody of the Alaska Department of Corrections (“DOC”). It is filed on behalf of two separate groups of people. The first group, which the Parties and the court have been calling Subclass 1, are inmates in DOC custody who are alleging that DOC’s call charges for local, intrastate, and interstate telephone calls violate the right to rehabilitation under Article I, § 12 of the Alaska Constitution. Subclass 1 is seeking only injunctive relief to decrease or eliminate the charges going forward. This claim is still being litigated before Superior Court Judge Thomas A. Matthews. Only inmates in Alaska Department of Corrections facilities are members of Subclass 1.
The second group, called Subclass 2, consists of people who have received and paid for a local call from someone in DOC custody, that cost more than $0.50. In 1990, DOC agreed in settling another class action suit called Cleary that local calls from inmates in DOC custody would not cost more than $0.50 per call. In this case, Subclass 2 is alleging that DOC has been violating the Cleary Final Settlement Agreement by charging more than $0.50 for local calls and that they are entitled to enforce that agreement. On July 14, 2025, the Court granted summary judgment to Subclass 2 and found that they could enforce that agreement. A copy of the Court’s Summary Judgment Order may be found on this website HERE. In short, the Court held that the members of Subclass 2 are third party beneficiaries of the Cleary Final Settlement Agreement and are entitled to recover damages for the excess charges. DOC intends to appeal this ruling to the Alaska Supreme Court.
The Court has approved Terria Vandenhuerk as the Class Representative for Subclass 2 and the law firm of the Northern Justice Project, LLC as Class Counsel. Contact information for Class Counsel is:
Northern Justice Project, LLC
406 G Street, Suite 207
Anchorage, AK 99501
Phone: (907) 308-3395
Email: [email protected]
You must decide whether to participate in this Lawsuit as a Class Member or to exclude yourself from the Class. Either choice has certain legal consequences, which are spelled out below. You may also want to discuss this matter with your own attorney.
You will be bound by any final determinations made by the Court, whether favorable or unfavorable. If the Class obtains any monetary recovery, you may be entitled to a full or partial refund of amounts you paid for local calls from DOC inmates over $0.50 per call since June 1, 2018.
Your interests will be represented in this case by the Class Representative and Class Counsel. As a potential Class Member, you will not personally have to pay any attorney’s fees, costs or expenses, unless you choose to retain your own counsel. However, such fees, costs and expenses may be awarded to Class Counsel by the Court out of any recovery obtained on your behalf in this lawsuit.
You may do so individually or through an attorney of your choice. If you retain counsel, you will be responsible for paying your own attorney’s fees and costs
You are under no obligation to remain a member of the Class. If you do not wish to be a Class Member in this case, you may exclude yourself by sending a “Request to be Excluded from the Class” to Alaska DOC Class Action, c/o Atticus Administration, PO Box 64053, Saint Paul, MN 55164, or by email to [email protected]. Be sure to include your name, address, phone number, email address (if any), signature, and include Case Number 3AN-21-06183 CI, and a statement indicating a request to be excluded from the Class. You must email or mail your Exclusion Request, postmarked, by January 30, 2026.
If you exclude yourself from the Class, you will not be entitled to share in any monetary recovery that may be obtained by the Class. You will not be bound by any determinations made by this Court in this case, favorable or unfavorable, and you will retain any claims you have against the defendant. You may hire your own attorney at your own cost to pursue such claims in a separate lawsuit.
• A complete list of filings in this court case can be found by entering case number 3AN-21-06183 CI into the search field here:
• More information on DOC’s phone system can be found here:
• More information about how inmate audio and video calling rates are set and regulated nationwide can be found on the Federal Communications Commission’s website here:
• More information about how inmate phone rates are set and regulated statewide can be found on the Regulatory Commission of Alaska’s website here: