FCC Delays Prison Phone Rate Caps Until 2027
Commissioner Gomez said the agency had chosen 'to ignore both the law and the will of Congress' and that it is 'stalling'
WASHINGTON, July 1, 2025 – The Wireline Competition Bureau said that it had decided to delay enforcement of key provisions of the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act until April 1, 2027.
The Bureau’s order released Monday framed the delay as a response to unanticipated cost burdens on correctional institutions, writing that “facilities themselves are facing financial hurdles that far exceed those the Commission anticipated.”
Democratic Commissioner Anna Gomez called the decision “indefensible” and said that the agency had chosen “to ignore both the law and the will of Congress. Rather than enforce the law, the Commission is now stalling, shielding a broken system that inflates costs and rewards kickbacks to correctional facilities at the expense of incarcerated individuals and their loved ones.”
FROM SPEEDING BEAD SUMMIT
Panel 1: How Are States Thinking About Reasonable Costs Now?
Panel 2: Finding the State Versus Federal Balance in BEAD
Panel 3: Reacting to the New BEAD NOFO Guidance
Panel 4: Building, Maintaining and Adopting Digital Workforce Skills
Under Bureau Chief Joseph Calascione, WCB explained that “this temporary waiver period will allow the Commission to reevaluate these issues and find a long-term solution.”
Enacted in January 2023
Enacted in January 2023, the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act required prison phone providers to charge “just and reasonable” rates, and gave the Federal Communications Commission authority to enforce and define what “just and reasonable” means.
In July 2024, the FCC voted to set audio rate caps of $0.06-$0.12 per minute (depending on the size of the facility) and video rate caps of $0.16-$0.25 per minute. This marked a departure from old FCC regulations, which capped audio rate calls at $0.14-$0.21 per minute and had no set cap for video calls. It also forbid providers from making site commission payments associated with IPCS.
These and other new regulations would have dropped the price of a 15-minute phone call in some large jails from $11.35 to $0.90, and the price of that same call in a small jail from $12.10 to $1.35, according to the FCC.
At the time of adoption, Gomez and FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, plus Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Nathan Simington, fully supported the resolution.
Then-commissioner Brendan Carr approved in part and concurred in part. At the time, Carr expressed reservations that the FCC’s regulations “went too far in one direction” and “overcorrected in ways that could ultimately work against the interests of inmates.”
The Bureau-level decision to delay enforcement has also drawn sharp criticism from advocates, in addition to the concerns expressed by Gomez in a release.
“Not only did Congress unanimously pass the Martha Wright Reed Act, but the FCC unanimously adopted the decision last summer,” Cheryl A. Leanza, policy advisor for the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry said in a statement. “The decision to delay these rules is factually and legally wrong,” she wrote. “Iincarcerated people deserve the protections adopted by the FCC as directed by Congress.”
A coalition of states and incarcerated people’s communication services providers Securus Technologies and Pay Tel Communications have been fighting the FCC’s regulations, arguing that the FCC’s order was arbitrary and that the commission ignored the requirement that incarcerated people’s communication service providers be “fairly compensated.”
A joint filing from the National Sheriff’s Association and IPCS providers also argued that such low price caps might lead some IPCS providers to exit the market, leaving prisoners with few options to contact loved ones.
