11 State Attorneys General Defend FCC’s Cap on Prison Phone Rates

WASHINGTON, April 25, 2025 – A coalition of 11 attorneys general is urging a federal appeals court to uphold a Federal Communications Commission order that drastically reduced the cost of phone and video calls for incarcerated individuals and their families.

In an amicus brief filed Monday with the First Circuit Court of Appeals, the AGs said the FCC acted squarely within its authority when it issued its July 2024 order capping calling rates in prisons and jails. 

The FCC was expressly authorized to regulate these communications services when Congress enacted the Martha Wright-Reed Act in 2022, the brief said.

Under the FCC’s rate caps, the cost of a 15-minute phone call dropped from as much as $11.35 to $0.90 in large jails and from $12.10 to $1.35 in small jails. The rules went into effect for large prisons and jails on Jan. 1, 2025 and for small jails on April 1. 

The rules were adopted under former FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel with the partial support of now Chairman Brendan Carr and the full support of Republican Commissioner Nathan Simington. 

In a release, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, D, said staying connected to loved ones and a support system while in prison was one of the best ways to reduce recidivism and support successful rehabilitation later on. 

Bonta was joined by the AGs of nine other states and the District of Columbia. The states are New York, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. 

Five of the states – California, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Minnesota, and Colorado – have already implemented policies to provide free phone calls for incarcerated individuals in state-run correctional facilities. However, those rates may not apply to local adult jails and federal prisons within the states.

In the brief, AGs said, “The high costs of keeping in contact drive more than 1 in 3 families, who are already financially burdened, into debt for phone calls and visits with their loved ones.” 

Within the case, the FCC and intervenors, like public interest groups Worth Rises and the Pennsylvania Prison Society, will be facing a 14-state coalition, backing prison telecom providers Securus Technologies and Pay Tel Communications.

Prison telecoms are fighting to preserve the current rate structure.

So far at least one jail has decided to cut inmate communications services as a result of the rules. Last month, Arkansas’s Baxter County Sheriff announced the county jail would cut off phone service entirely rather than comply with the FCC’s new limits.