FCC to Revisit 2024 Inmate-Calling Rules

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6, 2025 – The Federal Communications Commission wants to revisit limits set last year on the cost of prison phone and video calls.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr circulated the proposal on Friday, saying that rate caps adopted under former Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel led to “negative, unintended consequences,” including reductions in calling availability at some facilities.

The new plan would supersede the FCC’s 2024 order to allow jails and service providers to recover the full cost of safety and security measures, while the FCC reconsiders its broader framework for incarcerated-people’s communications.

“The FCC has yet to find a path forward that is both lawful and sustainable over the long run,” Carr said. “Dropping the rate caps too low made the cost of doing business too high for service providers and law enforcement alike, risking public safety.”

The announcement offered few specifics but said the new proposal would: replace the 2024 cost model using only billed minutes to calculate rate caps; add a new pricing tier for extremely small jails; and permit a uniform $0.02 administrative additive on top of revised caps to cover facility overhead.

The new order departs from Rosenworcel’s in taking a more expansive view of what constitutes recoverable costs, allowing providers to factor in “all” expenses tied to maintaining security and monitoring inmate calls.

That narrower approach under Rosenworcel had drawn opposition from the National Sheriffs’ Association, 17 state AGs, and prison phone companies including Securus, PayTel, and ViaPath, which challenged the FCC’s rules in early 2024. The consolidated cases were assigned to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, where petitioners argued the FCC had underestimated the cost of maintaining secure communications systems

The FCC defended its 2024 rules through the spring but shifted course in September, when it told the First Circuit the case was moot because it planned to vote on new regulations. The court rejected that claim and kept oral arguments on the calendar for Tuesday, Oct. 7 at 10:45 a.m. in Boston.

Sheriffs commended Carr for action

National Sheriffs’ Association CEO Jonathan Thompson on Friday commended Carr for taking action to address “the cost recovery challenges facing jails and sheriffs across the country,” saying it would “preserve access to communications services that support successful reintegration and reduce recidivism.”

The FCC’s 2024 order capped the rates prison telecom providers could charge for audio calls at roughly $0.06 per minute for prisons and $0.12 per minute for very small jails. Video calls were capped between $0.16 and $0.25 per minute, depending on the size of the facility.

The rules were scheduled to take effect for all facilities on April 1, 2025. But, in July, the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau temporarily waived those compliance deadlines until 202in an effort, the FCC said Friday, to “preserve the status quo while the Commission assesses potential changes to its IPCS rules based on the record that has developed.”

The delay in implementing the rules, required under the 2022 Martha Wright-Reed Act, has sparked backlash from nearly 100 advocacy groups, 23 House lawmakers, and more than 14,000 individuals who have urged the FCC to restore the protections..

The proposal to revisit the rate caps was expected to come up for a vote at the FCC’s open meeting on Oct. 28.