FCC votes to lower call rates for incarcerated people

Rate caps on calls from incarcerated people will be lowered based on a rule the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to pass during a Thursday meeting.  

The rule will lower call rates for individuals at correctional facilities to help ease communication between incarcerated individuals with friends, family and others.  

The new rules would lower the cost of a 15-minute phone call to $.90 from as much as $11.35 at a large jail, and to $1.35 from $12.10 at a small jail, according to the FCC.

The rules also establish for the first time a per-minute rate cap for video calls to drop the prices based on consumers’ usage.

In addition to cutting the audio rate caps per-minute by more than half, the rules also simplify the pricing structure while incorporating the costs of ancillary services into the rate caps, according to the FCC.

The rules also aim to lower prices consumers pay by eliminating the ability to impose separate ancillary service charges. 

The FCC’s vote comes after President Biden signed a law last year that clarified that the agency has the authority to regulate call rates at correctional facilities. The FCC’s previous action seeking to set such limits were blocked in court, limiting the agency from setting limits for intrastate calls.  

FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel and other members of the commission praised the late Martha Wright, the namesake of the law clarifying the FCC’s authority to set the limits, for her advocacy in pushing for the changed. Wright filed a petition calling for the agency take action on the high rates as she was trying to maintain communication with her grandson.  

“There was something wrong about being asked to pay through the roof just to stay in touch with her grandson Ulandis, who is here with us today. It was better for all of us, she believed, if while he was incarcerated, he could stay in touch with family and hear about what was happening at home and in church. She was right,” Rosenworcel said.  

“Today, using this new law, we fix what has been wrong for too long,” she added.  

The FCC’s three Democrats and Republican Commissioner Nathan Simington voted for the order. Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr voted to approve part and concur part of the order.