FCC Adopts Higher Rate Caps for Prison Phone Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 28, 2025 – The Federal Communications Commission voted Tuesday to institute higher rate caps for communications services in prisons and jails. The interim caps adopted Tuesday will go into effect 120 days after the order is published in the federal register, and will remain in place until the agency sets permanent ones.

The increased interim rates were adopted on party lines, with Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez dissenting. The docket had been the subject of fierce lobbying from advocacy groups that oppose the new rates and prison communications providers that argue the previous rates were too low.

“The order the commission is adopting today is indefensible,” Gomez said. “It implements an egregious transfer of wealth from families in incredibly vulnerable situations to greedy monopoly companies that seek to squeeze every penny out of them.”