Prison Phone Providers Renew Legal Fight Against FCC Rate Caps
The First Circuit will review arguments on whether the FCC’s rate caps should remain in place.
Jericho Casper
WASHINGTON, Feb. 18, 2025 – Two dominant prison telecom providers have renewed their push to overturn the Federal Communications Commission’s efforts last year to cap what it characterized as “exorbitant" prison phone rates.
Securus Technologies and Pay Tel Communications filed briefs Thursday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, arguing that the FCC’s July order exceeded its authority under the Martha Wright-Reed Act, which Congress passed in 2023 to regulate prison phone rates. The law, signed by President Joe Biden, empowered the FCC to set "just and reasonable" prices for any telecommunications used by incarcerated people.
Securus and Pay Tel, two dominant players in the incarcerated people’s communication services (IPCS) market, argued that the FCC ignored the Act’s requirement that all IPCS providers be “fairly compensated.”
"The FCC violated Congress’s command that the [FCC’s] compensation plan ensure that 'all' IPCS providers are 'fairly compensated,'" Securus and Pay Tel wrote in their court filing. “Legal errors led the FCC to select rate caps so low that – even on its own flawed estimates – one-third of all IPCS providers will be unable to recover their costs,” they said.
The FCC’s order, which took effect on Nov. 19, slashed the cost of a 15-minute call from as high as $11.35 in some large jails to as low as $0.90. The new rules also prohibited telecom providers from using a portion of their profits to give commissions to prisons and jails — a practice that critics said fueled inflated rates.
Securus and Pay Tel sought to block the rate caps, but the First Circuit denied their motion to stay the rule on Nov. 18, 2024, allowing the lower rates to take effect. However, the case remains active, as the appeals court did not dismiss Securus' challenge but left room for arguments to be revisited during full merits review.
Quoting a July statement from current FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, Securus and Pay Tel said “the FCC went ‘too far in one direction’ and ‘overcorrected in ways that’ will ‘ultimately work against the interests of inmates, their families, IPCS providers, state correctional facilities, and the public-safety officials who operate them.’”
Law enforcement groups, led by the National Sheriffs’ Association, also joined the legal challenge, warning that correctional facilities were not required to provide phone services at all.
“Correctional facilities make IPCS available because it benefits incarcerated people, even as they safeguard that benefit by also protecting and benefiting their loved ones and the public at large,” NSA said. Unlike traditional telecom service, “where access to communications is a matter of a customer purchasing a service from a provider, access to IPCS for incarcerated people is not a given.”
Several public interest groups have previously intervened in the case to defend the FCC’s new rate caps. Among those advocating for the FCC’s position were: Cheryl Leanza from the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry, Stefen Short from Worth Rises Inc., and Andrew Schwartzman on behalf of the Pennsylvania Prison Society.
These advocates maintain that lower rates will reduce financial burdens on incarcerated families and prevent monopolistic pricing practices in correctional facilities. Representatives from the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry and the Pennsylvania Prison Society did not provide a comment by the time of publication.
