From the July 18, 2024 blog of Prison Policy Initiative:
Today, the Federal Communications Commission voted to implement several new regulations on phone and video calling services in prisons and jails.
As required by the 2022 Martha Wright-Reed Fair and Just Communications Act, the FCC laid out new price caps that prisons, jails, and their telecom providers must abide by, significantly lowering the existing caps which were set in 2021. The agency also made a number of long-sought reforms that will bring critical relief to families of incarcerated people and reduce incentives for bad policy in prisons and jails.
The new caps on phone and video calling rates in prisons and jails
The FCC voted to set price caps for phone calls of 6¢ per minute for prisons and large jails, 7¢/minute for medium-sized jails, and slightly more for small and “very small” jails. This move lowers the existing caps by more than half, a tremendous step forward that will save the families of incarcerated people many millions of dollars every year.
The FCC also laid down the first-rate caps for video calling — a quickly growing industry, which we put on the national radar with our 2015 report — though it should be noted that these are interim rates as the agency decides on permanent regulations. Prisons will be required to keep video calling rates at or below 16¢/minute, and jails are required to keep rates between 11¢/minute and 25¢/minute, depending on facility size. While this is an intermediate step, it stands to substantially lower the cost of video calls, for which families currently pay about 25¢ a minute on average. Continue reading >>>
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