FCC's IPCS Order Will Significantly Increase Calling Costs: Prison Policy Initiative
The FCC’s order to revise incarcerated people’s communications services (IPCS) rates on an interim basis, approved by commissioners 2-1 last week (see 2510280045), will “hike prices by as much as 83% compared to the rates announced last year,” the Prison Policy Initiative said Tuesday. “Ultimately, these higher rate caps further burden incarcerated people and their families, while lining the pockets of companies and facilities.”
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Commissioners voted to incorporate “safety and security” costs into the rate caps, add a 2-cent “facility fee” and “create a new tier of ‘extremely small jails’ with fewer than 50 people, where rate caps will be higher,” the group said. “The FCC also added, during a period of no comment and without informing the public, a 6.7% ‘inflation factor.’ While the impact that this will have is unclear, it will likely add about 1 cent to most of the rate caps.”
In a “rare piece of good news,” the FCC reinstated “two parts of its 2024 ruling: the ban on site commissions (kickbacks that companies give to facilities) and on ancillary fees, both of which had the effect of inflating the final costs families paid,” the group added.