A new rule allowing the Federal Communications Commission to regulate the rates of prison phone calls is one step closer to becoming law. After it passed through Congress last week, the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act of 2022 now awaits President Joe Biden’s signature.
The prison phone call industry has been broken for decades, with telecommunications companies, like Global Tel Link and Pay Tel Communications, charging unfair fees for phone and video calls from inmates. These fees vary by state, but they involve the phone provider offering kickbacks to prisons and local governments using the money they collect from the friends and families of incarcerated people. The result is a $1.4 billion industry built on fees that disproportionately affect women and people of color.
According to the Prison Policy Initiative, the average cost of a 15-minute phone call from jail is around $3, and that doesn’t include any additional charges for setting up and funding the prepaid phone accounts used to make calls. The FCC has been working to crack down on these predatory costs for years and implemented a cap on prison calls in 2021, while individual states, including Connecticut and California, have made prison phone calls free of charge.
But the Martha Wright-Reed Act, named for a prison policy advocate who fought against exorbitant phone call fees, will give the FCC the authority to “ensure just and reasonable charges for telephone and advanced communications services in correctional and detention facilities.” The bill amends the Communications Act of 1934 and adds additional language to cover both phone and video calls. President Biden is expected to sign off on the legislation.
Aerokicks on December 30th, 2022 at 02:25 UTC »
I hope this includes text as well. My uncle gets a tablet daily that he is able to text and make calls with, which has been great for my grandmother. It's something like $0.50 a text each way, so it's really expensive for other friends and family members to text him. At least visiting is starting to be allowed now.
PopeyeNJ on December 30th, 2022 at 01:05 UTC »
They need to also fix the predatory email prison company that also supplies laptops to inmates for way to much money. I swear, this company is selling stolen, used laptops and are running this business from a literal pay phone. Absolute scam artists.
joevan55645 on December 29th, 2022 at 23:08 UTC »
This is great news ! Hopefully at some point we can fix the system along with it. I'm not even talking about being soft or hard or whatever with crime. I'm just saying that everyone needs to have a way out, to get their civil rights back, to be a productive member of society. To not face discrimination every time they have to rent a house or try to get a job. Make people jump through hoops, put a time limit on it, do whatever you want but have some kind of path so people who come out of prison feel like they have something to work for and they will actually be a real person again if they do the right things