FCC Approves Prison-Calling Order 2-1 to Boos and Hisses
The FCC commissioners were booed and hissed by prisoner advocates at the agency’s open meeting Tuesday as they voted 2-1 to approve an order that will increase rates for incarcerated people’s communications services (IPCS) on an interim basis.
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Commissioner Anna Gomez dissented from the vote, calling the item “an egregious transfer of wealth to greedy monopoly companies.” Chairman Brendan Carr said it's intended to stop “an endless cycle of uncertainty” that's bad for all stakeholders and fix the “serious, unintended consequences” from the agency’s 2024 IPCS order.
The order supersedes the FCC’s previous rate caps, incorporates facilities' security costs and inflation into the rate calculations, and sets a new uniform compliance date for providers. Correctional facilities and IPCS providers have said the rate adjustments are necessary to continue offering calling services, but Gomez and prisoner advocates have said the higher rates are based on scant evidence and will burden families. Since the item only sets interim rate caps and seeks comment on permanent IPCS rules, opponents have the opportunity to put contradictory evidence into the record if they doubt the agency’s conclusions, Carr said during a press conference Tuesday.
“Without proper safety and security measures, correctional facilities cannot responsibly allow IPCS at all,” said Commissioner Olivia Trusty. “Costs must be recognized.”
The FCC “chooses to reward corporations with money extracted from vulnerable families,” Gomez argued, noting that the IPCS providers had declined to provide important data to the commission. The agency’s actions are “indefensible,” she added. The FCC "is going above and beyond to address the needs of monopoly."
Compared with the draft, the final order includes an additional rate increase based on inflation, which Gomez said was inserted at the last minute. IPCS provider Securus said the FCC should account for inflation in a filing last week (see 2510230034). The agency didn’t provide notice that the final item would account for inflation, said United Church of Christ attorney Cheryl Leanza, who was among those booing Tuesday as the order was approved. Tacking on costs to the rate increase at the last minute is “outrageous,” she said.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois -- the lead sponsor of the 2022 Martha Wright-Reed Act, which prompted the 2024 IPCS order -- led 12 other Democratic caucus members Tuesday in “strong opposition” to the FCC’s rollback of the rules.
The lawmakers trashed Carr for reversing course “at the behest of corporate special interests” after supporting the rules as a commissioner and initially pushing earlier this year as chairman to defend them in court. “Your claim that the 2024 final rule created ‘unintended consequences’ lacks any support in the record or fact,” Duckworth and the other Democrats said in a letter to Carr. “Worse, by repealing the rule and delaying enforcement, your arbitrary and capricious action will inflict irreparable harm on millions of Americans who simply seek to remain in contact with incarcerated loved ones -- critical connections that benefit us all by helping to reduce recidivism.”