FCC Waives IPCS Deadlines, Will Reevaluate 2024 IPCS Order
The Wireline Bureau has extended several incarcerated people’s communications service (IPCS) deadlines until April 1, 2027, and the FCC could reevaluate aspects of the 2024 IPCS order, said an order and news release Monday. The new order waived the deadlines for complying with the rate cap, site commission, and per-minute pricing rules adopted in 2024 “to ensure sufficient funding for safety and security tools, while IPCS providers and the facilities they serve address the challenges of implementing these requirements.” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in a release that the 2024 order “is leading to negative, unintended consequences” where prisons limit the availability of IPCS, and it “does not allow providers and institutions to properly consider public safety and security interests when facilitating these services.”
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Monday’s order said “special circumstances exist,” and waiving the deadlines while the FCC “considers reevaluating aspects of the 2024 IPCS Order” will serve the public interest. The waiver will give the FCC time to "develop a more robust record” on matters such as the adoption of permanent rate caps for video IPCS and refinements to the treatment of correctional facility costs for purposes of the FCC’s IPCS rate structure, the order said. “The Commission may well want to consider how IPCS regulations can best support market-leading practices in the safety and security space, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and pattern recognition or network-based analysis.”
The Wireline Bureau order "is a blatant attempt to sidestep the law, and it will not go unchallenged in court," said Commissioner Anna Gomez in a release. "Rather than enforce the law, the Commission is now stalling, shielding a broken system that inflates costs and rewards kickbacks to correctional facilities at the expense of incarcerated individuals and their loved ones." The FCC's "responsibility is not to protect profit-driven contracts -- it is to uphold the law and serve the public," Gomez said.
"The decision to delay these rules is factually and legally wrong" and runs counter to the will of Congress and unanimous FCC decisions, said Cheryl Leanza, policy adviser for the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry, in a release. "No legal request for this decision was made, no public comment was sought."
The fact that many prisons and jails have been complying since the rules took effect in January belies the FCC's claims that the 2024 order is causing strain in the industry, Leanza said. "Incarcerated people deserve the protections adopted by the FCC as directed by Congress. This decision is another lawless decision by the Trump Administration and this Federal Communications Commission."