FCC's Additional Steps Help Lower Rates for Incarcerated People’s Communications

FCC commissioners adopted a series of items implementing the Martha Wright-Reed Act of 2022 during their open meeting Thursday (see 2407140001). A report and order reduces the permanent per minute rate caps for audio calls and for the first time establishes interim rate caps for video calls for incarcerated people. The law also clarified the FCC’s authority to also set rate caps for intrastate and international calls.

The item “comprehensively reforms” the commission’s treatment of site commissions by concluding such costs are “not used and useful in the provision of” incarcerated people’s communications services, said Wireline Bureau Pricing Policy Division Attorney-Adviser Peter Bean. Such costs were excluded from the types of recoverable costs for IPCS providers. The order also preempts “conflicting” state and local laws allowing site commissions.

In addition, the order simplifies rates for ancillary costs, adding them to the rate caps and prohibiting providers from imposing separate ancillary charges on consumers, said Ahuva Battams, Wireline Bureau Pricing Policy Division attorney-adviser. An order on reconsideration, waiver and clarification also resolved several petitions related to the commission’s 2021 and 2022 IPCS orders. A related Further NPRM seeks comment to supplement the record establishing video IPCS rates, updating the definition of jails and prisons, and addressing other service quality issues.

“For those who are incarcerated and their loved ones, talk does not come cheap," Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said. Thursday's action is "meaningful change," and "we fix what has been wrong for too long." Consumers, Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said, can now "easily access information on the rates and charges of services, as well as information on accounts, billing, and refunds on a service providers’ public website." It's "no secret" that the market has "long been plagued by predatory fees and practices," Starks added.

The IPCS market “doesn’t benefit from the type of competitive forces that we see in other segments of the telecom ecosystem,” Commissioner Brendan Carr said. The FCC has a “critical role to play” in filling the gaps. Carr welcomed Congress’ decision to give the agency explicit authority to establish rate caps on intrastate and international calls. He also raised concerns that the item “went too far in one direction” regarding rates for smaller facilities and could have “negative unintended consequences” on safety/security costs.

Commissioners Nathan Simington and Carr sought some changes. Carr advocated for a provision extending the transition deadline for providers renegotiating contracts. The FNPRM also includes a question on a “uniform fee recovery additive” to help providers recover certain costs. Simington and Carr sought a question on challenges for cost recovery in small facilities. The cost of IPCS “should not be so high that it’s prohibitive,” Simington said, adding this was a “monster item premised on a mountain of data implementing a complex law.”

That greater ability to connect with families and outside support structures gives inmates "a lot of hope," April Feng, CEO of nonprofit IPCS provider Ameelio, told us after the FCC vote. She said the calling order was "a huge triumph." Massachusetts, Colorado, Minnesota, California and Connecticut have made calls free for incarcerated people, and more are sure to follow as they recognize the long-term benefits, Feng said. "When folks are connected with their families and support groups, there's reduced recidivism."