Biden signs law to curb costs of expensive prison phone calls, a major blow to a ‘predatory’ industry

President Joe Biden has signed a law allowing federal regulators to address the enormously high costs of making phone and video calls while incarcerated.

The bipartisan Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act allows the Federal Communications Commission to ensure telecommunications companies charge “just and reasonable” rates to incarcerated people, who on average are billed $3 for a 15-minute phone call, not counting fees and other additional charges connected to the $1.4bn industry.

“The cost of everyday communication is arguably the worst price-gouging that people behind bars and their loved ones face,” according to the Prison Policy Initiative, which finds that jails and prisons benefit from so-called “kickbacks” in the form of site commissions after developing exclusive contracts with a telecommunications company, forcing some of the poorest people in the country to pay more to stay connected with their loved ones than any other families in the US.

In Kentucky, a 15-minute interstate phone call can cost up to $5.70 to local landlines, or $10 for a call to a cellphone.

“No family member should ever have to choose between staying in touch with an incarcerated loved one and paying the bills,” Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth, who co-sponsored the bill, said in a statement on 5 January.

More than 1.2 million Americans are incarcerated in federal prisons. Tens of thousands of others are in state and local jails or remain in detention while awaiting trial before they have been convicted of a crime.

Prison reform advocates and regulators have scrutinised such contracts and “kickback” arrangements, leading to reforms in New York, Ohio and Rhode Island, where site commissions are now outlawed. California and Connecticut have made prison phone calls free of charge.

The Covid-19 pandemic also froze in-person visits for many incarcerated people, magnifying the explosive costs of phone and video calling, and jails and prisons also have moved to shut down in-person visitation altogether, forcing families to enrol in expensive video visitation.

Federal regulators have pushed to crack down on the costs of prison phone calls for several years, but the effort was largely abandoned under President Donald Trump’s administration.

The FCC has federal jurisdiction to regulate the costs of calls between states; in 2015, the agency moved to cap the costs of in-state calls, but that measure was struck down in court.

The new law will finally address that.

The measure is named after Martha Wright, a retired nurse who campaigned against the excessive costs to stay in touch with her incarcerated grandson, with monthly phone charges topping $100. Bipartisan legislation passed through Congress last month, and President Biden signed the measure into law on 5 January.

“Jails and prisons have charged predatory rates to incarcerated individuals for far too long,” FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement last month.

The law “ensures the Commission has clear authority to act to ensure that rates charged for incarcerated individuals are just and reasonable no matter the phone technology used to make the call or whether the call crosses state lines,” she said.

“Contact with the outside world for incarcerated populations is not only a vital part of the rehabilitation process but it also provides a multitude of benefits, including an overall decline in recidivism,” according to FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks.