Washington, D.C. — Today, in a split 2-1 vote, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) passed revised rate caps for Incarcerated People’s Communication Services (IPCS), rolling back unanimously passed 2024 regulations that had finally set just and reasonable rate caps based on more than a decades-long record. The 2025 revised rate caps will deliver substantially less financial relief to families impacted by incarceration — at least $215 million less per year. Notably, the revised rate caps passed today were higher than even those proposed in the Wireline Bureau’s draft released ahead of the meeting on October 7th. The new rate caps include the full recapture of security and surveillance costs, an additive facility fee, and an inflation factor.
“These changes are a betrayal of the families who entrusted the FCC to protect them from the notoriously predatory correctional telecom industry,” said Bianca Tylek, Executive Director of Worth Rises. “Today, the Commission bent to the will of the industry that has spent decades exploiting the basic human need of incarcerated people and their families — like all people — to stay connected. The original 2024 regulations were fair, just, and backed by data. The revised rules passed today fall short in all these respects and are the result of manipulation by the industry and their government partners, who are determined to protect their unjust profit margins.”
Worth Rises joins FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gomez in condemning the weakening of IPCS regulations, a move that will raise rate caps for phone and video calls and strip back critical relief promised under the 2024 rules. Commissioner Gomez was the only member of the commission who voted against the new rules and highlighted the facts.
"The order the commission is adopting today is indefensible. It implements an egregious transfer of wealth from families in incredibly vulnerable situations while monopoly companies squeeze every cent out of them,” said Anna M. Gomez, FCC Commissioner, prior to voting against the order. “It is mind-boggling that the order claims we lack sufficient data to support the proposed higher rates and nonetheless decides to err on the side of giving the monopoly companies that have provided the supposedly insufficient data everything they ask for and more.” Watch Commissioner Gomez’s full remarks here.
The FCC’s decision comes despite overwhelming evidence that most prison systems (76%) were already compliant with the 2024 rate caps and that they were both sustainable and reasonable. The rollback means that roughly 450,000 fewer incarcerated people and their families will see relief, while providers and correctional agencies regain access to profits they never should have had.
The Republican Commissioners misrepresented the record in making bold claims that the 2024 regulations resulted in “serious unintended consequences,” namely the cessation of IPCS in some facilities. In fact, only one rural jail, notorious for human rights violations, shut down phone access in protest of the 2024 rules and has not restored it despite their delay. These misrepresentations undermine the sincerity of the Chair’s claim that today’s rules seek to improve communication access for incarcerated people and their loved ones.
“This rulemaking process has been hijacked by corporate interests,” continued Tylek. “Rather than standing up for everyday Americans and against a billion-dollar industry, the majority of the Commission has chosen to side with it — rolling back progress and erasing hard-won relief for families. We thank Commissioner Anna Gomez for her strong dissent that highlighted real Americans and her efforts to protect families. We are committed to continuing to advocate for just and reasonable rates in the forthcoming rulemaking process.”