The FCC has voted to limit the rates that providers may charge for phone and video calls from correctional facilities. The Just and Reasonable Communications Act of 2022 allows the FCC to establish comprehensive regulations for incarcerated people’s communications services (ICPS). The new regulations significantly lower the existing per-minute audio call rates, in one case by as much as two thirds, and establish new interim rates for video calls. Additionally, ICPS providers are now prohibited from imposing ancillary service charges or making site commission payments, and states may no longer require site commission payments.
Rates for jails will continue to be determined by four categories of average daily population, and prison rates will be uniform.
