Tell Congress and the FCC to regulate the prison telecom industry.
We don’t think twice about calling our parents or children. But many families with incarcerated loved ones do because staying in touch is prohibitively expensive. Prison telecom corporations — abetted by prisons, jails, and detention centers — charge families unconscionable rates, as high as a dollar a minute, to connect with their loved ones. As a result, one in three families with an incarcerated loved one goes into debt trying to stay connected, and 87% of those carrying this burden are women, predominantly women of color. Yet, we know that people who have strong community ties are more likely to succeed upon release.
Federal Communications Commission
The FCC is taking action to lower the cost of prisons and jail calls and ensuring accessibility for incarcerated people with disabilities while laying the groundwork for more robust action in the future.
On May 20, the FCC will vote to lower interstate (or long-distance) rate caps to 14 and 16 cents per minute for prisons and jails with over 1,000 people, respectively, and establish international rate caps for the first time. The vote will also clarify the communication rights of incarcerated people with disabilities. Additionally, the FCC seeks to build a record for future regulatory action that will ensure the rate caps keep going down because we know these rates are still too high.
Tell the FCC you support this regulatory action today and want to see more in the future.
While the FCC is taking important steps to regulate prison and jail calls, its reach is unfortunately limited. A 2017 court decision, prohibited the FCC from regulating local calls. As a result, today the FCC can only regulate long-distance calls, which account for just 20% of all prison and jail calls.
U.S. Congress
Sen. Tammy Duckworth is introducing the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act (S.1541), and Rep. Bobby Rush has introduced the Martha Wright Prison Phone Justice Act (H.R. 2489), which would restore the Federal Communication Commission’s authority to regulate all prison and jail phone call rates. The legislation carries forward Ms. Wright-Reed’s decades-long fight for affordable prison phone rates. Phone calls were the only way she could stay in touch with the grandson she raised and loved during his incarceration. In honor of Martha Wright Reed’s legacy, we’re calling on lawmakers to stand up for vulnerable communities and make prison phone calls more affordable for families trying to stay connected.
We must ensure that Congress passes these bills and codifies phone justice into federal law. Call on your U.S. Senator and House Representative to co-sponsor and support these bills today.
Other Ways to Take Action
States: While we wait on Congress and the FCC to regulate prison telecom, we must call on our state elected officials to address the exorbitant cost of prison and jail communication and protect families by making them free. Governors and state legislators, as well as local elected officials, have the power to make communication free in the correctional facilities in their states. Elected officials in New York City, San Francisco, and San Diego have already taken this important step. Tell your state elected officials to support prison phone justice in your community and make communication free.
It is critical to demand that our federal, state, and local elected officials protect our neighbors, families, and communities, but we also cannot release the prison telecom corporations or their billionaire owners and executives from responsibility for their predatory practices.
Corporations & Investors: For over two years, advocates have targeted investors in the prison telecom industry and demanded divestment. This work has forced rate reductions, blocked major mergers, denied prison profiteers investments, limited access to growth capital, and lost the industry millions of dollars. It has also put a spotlight on one the industry’s titan investor, Tom Gores, and forced his resignation from a major museum board. Gores is the billionaire founder and CEO of Platinum Equity, which owns Securus, one of the nation’s two largest and most predatory prison telecom corporations. Gores is also the owner of the NBA team, the Detroit Pistons.
Join us in calling on Gores to either sell Securus or sell the Detroit Pistons, and the NBA to hold him accountable. Gores cannot be a cultural purveyor in the city with the largest percentage of Black residents and also exploit Black and Brown communities that are disproportionately impacted by mass incarceration.
We won!
In December 2022, Congress passed the Martha Wright Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act to restore the FCC’s regulatory authority over all prison and jail calls and grant regulatory authority over video calls for the first time. Thank you for taking action to protect families with incarcerated loved ones. The FCC now has 18 -24 months to act and we’ll be working the FCC to ensure the greatest relief possible for families.
