FCC votes to nearly double prisoner phone call rates

The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday voted to significantly increase the maximum price prisons are allowed to charge for phone and video calls.

under New rulesCosts in large prisons are expected to rise to 10 cents per minute, and by 18 cents per minute in prisons with fewer than 50 people. But at the last minute, the FCC also added a 2-cent-per-minute fee to “account for correctional facility expenses.”

The FCC is rolling back rules adopted last year, which set rates between $0.06 and $0.12 per minute. In general, rates are expected to rise by As much as 83%.

According to Analysis by advocacy group Worth RisesThis would cost families and prisoners an additional $215 million each year and result in an additional 2.1 billion call minutes per year under the 2024 rules to 714 million under the 2025 rules.

The downstream effects of the change are worrying. The benefits to incarcerated people who make phone calls are well documented: they Reduce the probability The person will commit a crime when he is released, Strengthening relationships with children and Improving prison safety.

“This means that children will not be able to hear ‘I love you’ from their parents. This means that couples will not be able to communicate on Parenting. “This means that people will not be able to prepare for release. It has enormous implications for individuals, families, communities and public safety,” Bianca Tylek, executive director of Worth Rises, told CNET.

In 2022, Congress passed the Martha Wright Reid Act, which gave the FCC the authority to regulate prison phone calls. The FCC voted to implement the lower caps last year and set a date of January 1, 2025, for prisons to begin complying on a staggered basis. Then, in July 2025, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr Pushing history back Until April 1, 2027, due to “unintended negative consequences.”

Hours before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) meeting, Senate Democrats I sent a message to Carr, calling the delay “unlawful,” and writing that it “snatches relief from incarcerated people and their families from predatory rates just as they are beginning to take effect.”

Carr, who voted to partially approve Maximum interest rates 2024She called the lower prices a course correction, saying that “some jails or prisons have had to reduce or even stop providing telecom services altogether” since the lower prices were adopted.

“The FCC has provided no evidence of these unintended consequences.” Wanda BertramA communications strategist for the Prison Policy Initiative told CNET. “They do this out of a desire not to make enemies of the deans and corporations.”

Americans spend more than $1 billion annually on phone calls to incarcerated people, according to The Virgin. Prison Policy Initiative. 1 in 3 families end up incarcerated Goes into debt To pay for these calls.

“It’s not about incarcerated people paying for these calls,” Bertram said. “In 90% of cases, their friends, family members and loved ones are out of prison.”