Inmate phone call costs slashed by US agency

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hefty phone bills for inmates in U.S. prisons and jails were slashed by the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday, affecting about 2 million incarcerated persons and their families.

Under the final rules, the cost of a 15-minute phone call will drop to 90 cents from as much as $11.35 in large jails. In small jails it will cost $1.35 instead of $12.10.

Inmates cannot receive voice calls but families can schedule video calls through some providers.

Video call costs including for visitations will be capped for the first time, at 11 to 25 cents a minute, less than a quarter of current prices. Fees are barred. The video call rate will be finalized at a later date.

The FCC also plans to study video call quality issues.

Congress passed legislation in 2023 to give the FCC broad authority to cut inmate calls costs after caps set by the agency were reversed by the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia in 2017.

The new rates address "the unconscionable rates families of the incarcerated pay for communications," FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement. "The price of an individual call can be as much as many of us pay for an unlimited monthly plan."

The FCC said it estimated prisoners, friends, families and inmates will save about $386 million under the change. The FCC will phase in the new rate caps.

Regular contact with family can reduce chances that inmates return to crime after they are released, Rosenworcel noted.

Senator Tammy Duckworth, who had championed the legislation in Congress, said on Thursday that the new rates will end "unjust and unreasonable prison phone rates."

"For far too long, too many families were forced to spend outrageous amounts of money simply to speak on the phone with their incarcerated loved ones, denying children the comfort of hearing their parents' voices," she said.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Franklin Paul and Richard Chang)