The era of telecom providers charging high rates to incarcerated people and their families could soon be over, according to the Federal Communications Commission, with the regulator saying exorbitant call charges will end next month.
The FCC’s proposed rules would significantly reduce existing per-minute rate limits for out-of-state audio calls and international audio calls from prisons, and apply those rate limits to in-state audio calls, the agency announced Wednesday.
The FCC on July 18 will “vote to end exorbitant phone and video call rates that have plagued prisoners and their families for decades,” according to a Wednesday news release.
“Congress has given the FCC the authority to close the last loopholes in the communications system that have been harming families and driving recidivism rates across the country,” the FCC said of the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act, which was signed by President Biden early last year.
If the measure passes, callers in large prisons who use a single service to make 15 minutes of calls would pay 90 cents instead of the $11.35 now in effect under the rate caps and charges, the FCC said. Callers in a small jail will pay $1.35 instead of the current $12.10 for those 15 minutes of calling.
The legislation clarified the FCC’s authority to regulate intrastate calls from correctional facilities, as well as its authority to regulate video calls. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, the agency had successfully imposed caps on rates for out-of-state calls from prisons and calls, but not on in-state calls.
“Exorbitant fees and charges increase depression, isolation, and loneliness among incarcerated individuals — actively harming them rather than providing any discernible benefit,” a coalition of organizations said in a June 17 letter to the FCC, urging the agency to lower the rates as much as possible.
