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FCC chair decides inmates and their families must keep paying high phone prices
Chairman Carr waives new price caps until 2027, may raise them before then.
Jul 1, 2025
Brendan Carr Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr has decided to let prisons and jails keep charging high prices for calling services until at least 2027, delaying implementation of rate caps approved last year when the FCC had a Democratic majority.
Carr's office announced the change yesterday, saying it was needed because of "negative, unintended consequences stemming from the Commission's 2024 decision on Incarcerated People's Communications Services (IPCS)... As a result of this waiver decision, the FCC's 2021 Order rate cap, site commission, and per-minute pricing rules will apply until April 1, 2027, unless the Commission sets an alternative date."
Commissioner Anna Gomez, the FCC's only Democrat, criticized the decision and pointed out that Congress mandated lower prices in the Martha Wright-Reed Act, which the FCC was tasked with implementing.
"Today, the FCC made the indefensible decision 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," Gomez said. "Instead of taking targeted action to address specific concerns, the FCC issued a blanket two-year waiver that undercuts the law's intent and postpones meaningful relief for millions of families. This is a blatant attempt to sidestep the law, and it will not go unchallenged in court."
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FCC chair decides inmates and their families must keep paying high phone prices
Chairman Carr waives new price caps until 2027, may raise them before then.
arstechnica.com