FCC halts efforts to cap inmate phone call rates in county jails

The FCC will stop trying to cap inmate phone rates

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has halted its efforts to cap the rates that inmates pay when placing phone calls from jails and prisons.

In 2015, the FCC had implemented rules that capped the rates paid by inmates to between 14 cents and 22 cents per minute. This rule was later challenged in the U.S. Court of Appeals by prison phone companies who claimed the FCC did not have the authority to cap prices for inmate calls. 

However, as the FCC’s lawyers were in the process of defending the commission’s position, two of the three sitting Democrat commissioners on the five-person commission vacated their seats leaving a new Republican majority that did not support the rate caps. 

Since the new majority has been in place, a letter was sent to the U.S. Court of Appeals stating that the FCC would no longer defend its previous position defending the implementation of rate caps for phone calls placed by inmates.

The case, though, is not over. Although the FCC is sitting on the sidelines, the court case has continued in a hearing earlier this month at the D.C. Court of Appeals.

A portion of the profits made by companies that provide phone services in jails are returned to the jail as “commissions.”  As a result, this revenue can directly impact county jail operating budgets. 

According to the National Sheriffs’ Association, whose members operate approximately 80 percent of the nation’s jails, jails incur significant costs in providing phone services to inmates due to factors ranging from taking security measures to ensure that phone calls aren’t used to engage in criminal activities to recording and storing phone calls to be provided to the courts.

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For additional information, contact Terrell at 202.942.4236 or jterrell@naco.org.