Public Justice Statement on New FCC Regulations to Cap Phone, Video Call Costs in Prisons and Jails
Last week, the Federal Communications Commission issued new regulations that will drastically reduce the costs for families to talk to their loved ones who are in jail or prison. For the first time, both phone and video call charges are capped. The FCC also banned up-front commission payments to prisons and jails and barred telecom companies from charging incarcerated people and their families for the cost of security and surveillance services.
This is a huge step towards reducing the extreme profiteering that has marked the carceral telecom industry. While we join with everyone impacted by incarceration in celebrating this major victory, our fight is far from over. Millions of children are separated from their parents due to pretrial incarceration and are unable to hug, see, or touch their parents because jails across the country are eliminating visits and replacing them with phone and video calls. Learn more at www.Right2Hug.org.
