Stop the Delays: Implement the Rules Now!
The FCC just announced that it is delaying the implementation of new regulations on prison and jail communication services for two years. This move shows blatant disregard for the law, the will of Congress, and impacted families in favor of manipulative special interests. We need your help to tell the FCC to implement its rule as planned!
Background
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. Correctional telecom corporations — abetted by prisons, jails, and detention centers — charge families egregious rates 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.
The late-Martha Wright Reed advocating before Congress for the increased regulation of correctional communication services.
Martha Wright Reed was one of those women. She desperately wanted to support her grandson in federal prison, but he was too far for her to visit and her vision was too impaired for her to write. Yet, the cost of prison calls was making it difficult for her to stay in touch. Some days, she even skipped critical medication to afford calls.
Ms. Wright Reed went to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to urge regulation of the free-for-all in the correctional telecom industry that was driving families like hers apart. After years of advocacy, the FCC finally took notice and action, but courts ruled that it had overstepped.
So, with the help of allied advocates, Ms. Wright Reed took her fight to Congress. And, in 2022, Congress passed the Martha Wright Reed Act with robust bipartisan support, expanding the regulatory authority of the FCC over the correctional telecom industry. The legislation mandated the agency issue regulations within 18 to 24 months to provide relief for families like hers.
In response, in 2024, the FCC released a monumental 430-page order with robust new regulations. The proposed regulations passed unanimously and are estimated to save families impacted by incarceration over $500 million a year in communication costs once fully implemented. Among other things, the new regulations roughly halve existing rate caps, ban commissions to prisons and jails, and prohibit the pass through of surveillance costs.
As expected, the industry responded by suing the FCC and correctional agencies, who had been getting a cut of the profits, supported them. But repeated efforts to delay implementation of the regulations, which began in late 2024, were denied by the FCC and courts. And thankfully, when legal briefs were due in April 2025, the FCC defended its regulations in court.
But suddenly, in a move that reprioritizes special interests and ignores the law and will of Congress, the FCC delayed the implementation of the rules until April 2027, and with it, denied relief to millions of families. Families cannot wait any longer. The FCC must stop the delay and connect families now!
Other Ways to Take Action
State & Local
The FCC is the only regulatory body that can offer families relief from the the correctional telecom industry nationwide. But state and local elected officials can address the exorbitant cost of prison and jail communication and protect families in their communities. The best way for them to so is to pass policies make prison and jail communication FREE. Elected officials in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Los Angeles, New York City, San Diego, San Francisco, and still others have already taken this important step. Tell your elected officials to support prison phone justice in your community and make communication free.
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 non-competitive mergers, limited access to growth capital, and lost the industry millions in investments. 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 correctional telecom corporations. Gores is also the owner of the NBA team, the Detroit Pistons. Join us in calling on the NBA to hold him accountable.