Democrats slam FCC’s decision to ‘gut’ prison phone call price caps

Senate Democrats are urging the Federal Communications Commission to enforce a rule that would lower the price of prison phone and video calls. In a letter to FCC Chair Brendan Carr,

Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), among others, criticize the agency’s efforts to “effectively gut” a final rule to implement a cap on exorbitant fees.

The letter comes just hours before the FCC’s open meeting, where the agency is set to propose new rules surrounding how much incarcerated people and their loved ones will have to pay for phone calls from prison.

In June, the FCC announced that it would delay the implementation of the Martha Wright-Reed law, a rule that gives the FCC the ability to regulate prison phone calls. Carr — who partially voted in favor of the phone call caps in 2024 — said prisons won’t have to comply with the rule until April 1st, 2027, due to “negative, unintended consequences.” The rules were initially supposed to go into effect on a staggered basis starting January 1st, 2025.

The Senate Democrats call the delay “unlawful,” saying it’s “snatching away relief for the incarcerated people and their families from predatory rates just as they were starting to go into effect.” The letter adds that the FCC’s draft order would increase the fees paid by incarcerated people and their loved ones by up to 83 percent when compared to the 2024 rule.

“Your claim that the 2024 final rule created ‘unintended consequences’ lacks any support in the record or fact,” the senators write. “Worse, by repealing the rule and delaying enforcement, your arbitrary and capricious action will inflict irreparable harm on millions of Americans who simply seek to remain in contact with incarcerated loved ones.”

The senators aren’t asking Carr for a response, but instead want the FCC to withdraw the delay of the Martha Wright-Reed law’s implementation and enforce the rule.