Attorney General Bonta Defends FCC Order Capping the Cost of Phone and Video Call Rates for Incarcerated People and Their Families

OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today, as part of a multistate coalition, filed an amicus brief in support of the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) order capping the cost of phone and video call rates for incarcerated people and their families. Communication services play an important role in keeping incarcerated people connected to their loved ones and support systems, ultimately reducing disciplinary actions in prison, improving the likelihood of rehabilitation, and mitigating the negative impacts of incarceration on the community. These services can be provided at a reduced cost without sacrificing accessibility or safety, as California and other states that have opted to provide these services free of charge have clearly demonstrated.

“Staying connected to loved ones and a support system while in prison is one of the best ways to reduce recidivism and support successful rehabilitation later on,” said Attorney General Bonta. “States like California have shown that reducing and eliminating the cost of a simple phone call only serves to enhance public safety. I stand in strong support of the FCC’s rate caps.”

Communication services in carceral settings have long been recognized as essential to successful rehabilitation. However, they have historically been provided at significant cost to the user, causing many to incur thousands of dollars in debt and sacrifice basic needs, such as food or utility payments, to stay connected to their loved ones in correctional facilities. The FCC first addressed this issue in 2015, issuing rate caps for calling services and prohibiting correctional facilities from taking a commission. After a court vacated these reforms, Congress enacted the Martha Wright-Reed Act in 2022, expressly authorizing the FCC to regulate these communications services. 

In September 2024, the FCC issued a new order that, among other things: (1) lowers the maximum rates correctional facilities can charge for phone calls and video communications; (2) establishes rate caps, for the first time, of video communication services; (3) eliminates ancillary fees; and (4) prohibits commissions to correctional facilities. Under the new rate caps, the cost of a 15-minute phone call would drop from as much as $11.35 to $0.90 in large jails and from $12.10 to $1.35 in small jails. While state prisons and juvenile detention facilities in California are already required to provide free phone calls under the Keep Families Connected Act of 2022, local adult jails and federal prisons within the state are not. The FCC’s order would hold local adult jails and federal prisons to a similar standard, meaning that fees for communication services will be greatly reduced or eliminated.

Attorney General Bonta joins the attorneys general of New York, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.

A copy of the brief is available here.