Republican state AGs challenge US FCC cap on inmate phone charges

By David Shepardson

(Reuters) -Republican attorneys general from 14 U.S. states, led by Arkansas and Indiana, have filed suit to challenge the Federal Communications Commission's decision to impose a cap on the amount prisons and jails can charge inmates for telephone use.

The states in the lawsuit, filed on Monday with the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, argued that the FCC rule improperly caps how much money these facilities can charge inmates for phone calls. The states also said the rule deprives the facilities of needed funding.

The FCC has said its rule, announced in July and due to take effect in November, would cut bills for about 2 million incarcerated people and their families, saving them about $386 million annually.

FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel in July said the rule addresses "the unconscionable rates families of the incarcerated pay for communications." Regular contact with family members, Rosenworcel added, can reduce the chances that inmates return to crime after their released.

Other states joining the lawsuit included Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia. The states told the 8th Circuit that the FCC rule "is arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion."

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird said the FCC's restrictions, by reducing fund going to the facilities, "make it harder to identify safety risks and for law enforcement to do their jobs."

In response to the lawsuit, an agency spokesperson said on Wednesday that "the moral and legal authority to stop these predatory rates that harm families and increase recidivism is on the side of the FCC's bipartisan action."

Under the final rules, the cost of a 15-minute phone call would drop to 90 cents from as much as $11.35 in large jails, while in small jails, it would 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 would be capped under the rule for the first time, at 11 to 25 cents a minute, less than a quarter of current prices, and fees are barred.

Congress passed a law in 2023 to give the FCC broad authority to cut inmate calls costs after previous caps set by the agency were reversed by another court in 2017.

(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham)