Prison-Calling Providers, Sheriffs Defend Holding 1st Circuit Case in Abeyance

Prison-calling providers and the National Sheriffs’ Association supported the FCC’s request at the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the court hold the case in abeyance while the commission reconsiders rules approved last year. The Wireline Bureau recently delayed incarcerated people’s communications service (IPCS) deadlines until April 1, 2027 (see 2506300068).

The FCC has since been hit by hundreds of comments protesting the delay (see 2507100061). Those protests continued Monday. Congress required the agency to implement the new IPCS rules in the Martha Wright-Reed (MWR) Act of 2022 no later than January 2025.

“When an agency decides to reconsider a challenged rule, appellate courts regularly hold legal challenges ‘in abeyance pending reconsideration,’” said the sheriffs group and IPCS providers Securus, Pay Tel and Tel*Link in a brief Friday (case 24-8028). “Holding in abeyance challenges to a rule undergoing reconsideration also eliminates the risk of the Court issuing an advisory opinion about the legality of an agency rule that never takes effect.”

“Nearly all the issues that Petitioners raise involve rules that the Waiver Order puts on hold: namely, the rate caps (and the costs of safety and security measures IPCS providers can recover through their regulated rates) and the prohibition on site commissions.”