Public Interest Groups Challenge FCC’s Suspension of Implementing Incarcerated Person Calling Service (IPCS) Rate Caps Mandated by Law

WASHINGTON — Yesterday, a coalition of public interest groups including UCC Media Justice Ministry, Worth Rises, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society and others filed an Application for Review urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to overturn a recent decision by the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau that suspends the 2024 FCC rules to lower price caps on prison phone calls.  

The groups make clear that the Bureau’s Suspension Order to delay these protections undermines the bipartisan Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act — which was enacted by Congress in 2022 and signed into law by President Biden in January 2023 — and tasked the FCC with ensuring affordable and just communications services for incarcerated people. Before this action, Incarcerated Person Calling Service (IPCS) rules requiring a decrease in the cost of a 15-minute phone call to $0.90 from as much as $11.35 in large jails and to $1.35 from $12.10 in small jails had gone into effect earlier this year.

"Slashing telecommunications rates for incarcerated people has been a bipartisan issue in Congress and the FCC. Suspending them, especially without a vote from the full Commission, is a gross injustice." — Mignon Clyburn, former Acting FCC Chairwoman and Benton Institute for Broadband & Society board member. 

Now families across the U.S. are once again vulnerable to exorbitant charges for staying in touch with loved ones behind bars. 

"The delay of the rules is a gift to prison telecom corporations and their nefarious law enforcement partners that flies in the face of justice for families desperate for relief from their predation. The Wireline Competition Bureau has no legal authority to unilaterally suspend a unanimously adopted FCC Commission order, especially one rooted in a congressional mandate like the bipartisan Martha Wright-Reed Act. In doing so, the Bureau’s action contravenes both the will of Congress and the Commission to reign in the industry and protect families. Every day of delay deepens the harm to families forced to pay predatory prices just to stay connected to their loved ones. The Commission must act swiftly to reverse this unlawful and unconscionable action.” — Bianca Tylek, Executive Director of Worth Rises. 

Thousands of individuals and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have already filed at the FCC protesting the FCC’s decision. The Application for Review provides the legal mechanism for the FCC to reverse the Bureau’s decision and quickly come into compliance with the law.

Advocates emphasize that “the Bureau’s action is inconsistent with and undermines the Martha Wright-Reed Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the FCC’s own rules.” 

“The Bureau's decision is as harmful as it is mystifying. It goes far beyond the Bureau's authority, a fact that the FCC majority just acknowledged last week in its open meeting when it agreed that Bureaus cannot conduct rulemakings, and the consequences are severe. Like Martha Wright-Reed, elderly grandparents must now choose between saying 'I love you' and buying life-saving medication. Clergy will need to cut back their counseling for congregants facing some of the most difficult and stressful moments of their lives.” — Cheryl Leanza, Policy Advisor of the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry.

The groups also say that the Suspension Order was issued without any request from any party and did not include a public process. The coalition is calling on the FCC to swiftly rescind the Bureau’s Suspension Order and restore the integrity of the Martha Wright-Reed Act. They demonstrate that the Suspension Order was wrong for three reasons:

  1. The Bureau violated Congress’s statutory mandate for the FCC to promulgate rules by December 2024 that address unjust costs for intrastate calling and video communication.

  2. The Bureau violated the Administrative Procedure Act because it failed to offer notice, contradicts its own and FCC findings, and wholly lacks any factual or legal foundation.

  3. The Bureau exceeded its authority by conducting an ultra vires rulemaking when it took action on “novel questions of fact, law or policy” outside of its authority pursuant to the FCC’s rules. 

Additional quotes from the groups are below: 

"In addition to being illegal and contrary to the will of Congress, this Suspension Order is profoundly cruel. After years of families fighting to stay connected, overcoming the forces arrayed against them time and again to get legislation passed and get rules in place, the Order out of the blue snatches back the promised relief for two years — with a warning that worse may follow. This is more than an affront to due process and the will of Congress. It is an affront to fundamental fairness and human decency. The full Commission should move quickly to grant the Application for Review and reverse this unjustified, illegal and cruel Order." — Harold Feld, Senior Vice President at Public Knowledge.

“Suspending the 2024 IPCS Order is not only a violation of the law but a devastating setback for families striving to stay connected with their incarcerated loved ones, high call costs force families—often those already facing financial hardship—to choose between paying for basic needs and maintaining crucial bonds.” — Professor Aliza Kaplan, Director, Criminal Justice Reform Clinic at Lewis & Clark Law School.

UK ARM OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS WATCHDOG ACCEPTS COMPLAINTS AGAINST BARCLAYS AND HSBC FOR PRIVATE PRISON INVESTMENTS, IN A MAJOR WIN FOR FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY

New York, NY | Nijmegen, Netherlands – Today, the United Kingdom’s National Contact Point (NCP) for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) accepted complaints against UK-based banks Barclays and HSBC after a preliminary investigation. The complaints allege that the banks contravened their responsibilities under the OECD Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct by maintaining financial ties to CoreCivic and GEO Group, the two largest private prison operators in the United States, without taking steps to prevent or mitigate their exposure to human rights violations.

PRISON PHONE CALLS SOON TO BE FREE IN NEW YORK STATE

ALBANY, NY — In a major victory for families across New York, the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) has announced that it will make phone calls free for people incarcerated in New York state prisons on August 1st, 2025. The state follows the lead of New York City, which became the first U.S. city to make jail calls free in 2019, saving city families an estimated $10 million per year. Now, with statewide implementation, New York joins California, Colorado (2026), Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Minnesota in providing communication for incarcerated people at no cost. Notably, New York is the first state to take this action administratively, without legislation, setting an example for executive leadership in other states. 

TIMELY NEW BOOK EXPOSES THE PRISON INDUSTRY, AUTHOR BIANCA TYLEK AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS

 The U.S. correctional system is a multibillion-dollar industry, turning a profit from incarceration at every turn. Bought out by private prison interests, the Trump administration is set to radically expand its reach and impact. In her groundbreaking new book, The Prison Industry: How It Works and Who Profits (The New Press, April 8, 2025), Bianca Tylek, Executive Director of Worth Rises, pulls back the curtain on the corporations fueling mass incarceration for financial gain with the help of their government partners.

CONNECTICUT LEGISLATORS HOLD HEARING ON BILL TO BAN SALE DRUGS AND MEDICAL DEVICES AFTER DISCOVERING ROLE OF LOCAL CORPORATIONS IN FEDERAL AND STATE EXECUTIONS

Today, Connecticut lawmakers heard testimony on SB 430, which would prevent corporations doing business in the state from manufacturing and selling drugs and medical devices for the purpose of death penalty executions. The bill was introduced by State Senators Saud Anwar and Ceci Maher and State Representative Josh Elliott after recent reporting revealed that several Connecticut-based corporations were facilitating the death penalty in other jurisdictions around the country.

NEW SINGLE BY SAMORA PINDERHUGHES, JAMILA WOODS, BOBBY GONZ SHINES LIGHT ON SLAVERY IN U.S. PRISONS

NEW YORK, NY — Award-winning pianist, composer, vocalist, and multidisciplinary artist Samora Pinderhughes has released the new single “Am I Human?” to shed light on prison labor in the United States. The single features the talented Jamila Woods, Bobby Gonz, Keith LaMar (on death row), and Elliott Skinner and is a haunting yet powerful call to end slavery in U.S. prisons.

SWISS WATCHDOG ACCEPTS HUMAN RIGHTS COMPLAINT AGAINST UBS BANK OVER PRIVATE PRISON INVESTMENTS

New York, U.S. and Nijmegen, Switzerland – Today, the Swiss National Contact Point for Responsible Business Conduct (NCP), a governmental business and human rights watchdog, accepted a complaint by human rights groups against Swiss banking giant UBS for its investment holdings in U.S. private prison contractors CoreCivic and GEO Group. The complaint was filed by non-profits BankTrack, Coalition for Immigrant Freedom, and Worth Rises. It follows years of civil society advocacy for investors to pressure private prison contractors to stop human rights abuses, or else to divest from those companies.

#ENDTHEEXCEPTION LAUNCHES DIGITAL ARCHIVE OF LETTERS FROM INCARCERATED WORKERS DETAILING THEIR FIRST-HAND ACCOUNTS OF SLAVERY

NATIONAL — Today, ahead of Labor Day, Worth Rises, a nonprofit criminal justice advocacy organization, launched a digital letter archive with first-hand accounts of slavery in U.S. prisons. The letters, from over 200 incarcerated workers, were collected as part the public education efforts of the organization’s #EndTheException campaign, which seeks to end the exception in the 13th Amendment that still allows slavery to be used as criminal punishment. This archive is a testament to the courageous resilience of the 800,000 incarcerated workers forced to labor in the U.S. and a record of the continuation of slavery in this country.

POLICE CALLED AS FAITH LEADERS DELIVER PETITIONS DEMANDING GAS-MASK MANUFACTURER ALLEGRO INDUSTRIES BAN THE USE OF ITS PRODUCTS IN ALABAMA’S NITROGEN SUFFOCATION EXECUTIONS

PIEDMONT, S.C. — Today, local faith leaders led by Reverend Hillary Taylor delivered nearly 5,000 petition signatures to Allegro Industries, a safety equipment manufacturer based in South Carolina, demanding the corporation ban the use of its gas masks in death penalty executions. The petition, which also names Allegro’s corporate parents, Connecticut-based Walter Surface Technologies and Canadian-based Onex Corporation, come after an Allegro mask was used to carry out the first ever nitrogen suffocation to execute Kenneth Eugene Smith in Alabama on January 25. In response to today’s peaceful action, which comes as Alabama readies for its second execution by nitrogen suffocation on September 26, Allegro executives caustically locked the doors and called the police.