Submitted on July 3, 2025

Benton Institute for Broadband & Society

Thursday, July 3, 2025

Weekly Digest

While You Were Watching the Big, Beautiful Bill...

You’re reading the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society’s Weekly Digest, a recap of the biggest (or most overlooked) broadband stories of the week. The digest is delivered via e-mail each Friday.

Round-Up for the Week of June 30-July 4, 2025

Most of us were watching the "Big, Beautiful Bill" get passed this week, which for the broadband world means the renewal of the Federal Communications Commission's spectrum auction authority. But while that bill saw months of turmoil (and headlines), the FCC issued a waiver delaying changes to incarcerated peoples' communications services (IPCS) that have been decades in the making.

The Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act of 2022 (Martha Wright-Reed Act) is the catalyst for these changes. The law enabled the FCC to establish rate caps on both interstate and intrastate services––meaning fewer fees and more affordable phone and video calls for incarcerated individuals. On June 30, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced a waiver of certain compliance deadlines for the Martha Wright-Reed Act, which will delay implementation of the law for years to come.

The Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act

Twenty years ago, Martha Wright was a grandmother struggling to afford calls to her grandson in a private prison. For many incarcerated people in the United States, exorbitant phone rates and fees make it consistently difficult to keep in touch with loved ones, lawyers, and others outside of prison. The Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act of 2022—signed by President Joe Biden on January 5, 2023—aims to ensure just and reasonable charges for telephone and advanced communications services in correctional and detention facilities across the country.

The law expands the Federal Communications Commission’s jurisdiction over different kinds of prison communications and the rates and fees associated with them. The law grants the FCC regulatory authority over the rates and fees charged for both interstate and intrastate services, and expands the definition of the communications technologies under that authority.

Because of this law, rates and charges for prison phone services must officially be just and reasonable for both intra- and interstate communications. Video calling rates are much higher than phone rates because they had previously been unregulated by the FCC. Some jails and companies have even attempted to substitute video calling for in-person visitation. Under the Martha Wright-Reed Act, video calling is protected under FCC jurisdiction and was to be made more affordable for incarcerated people.

“People in prison are often separated from their families by hundreds of miles, and families may lack the time and means to make regular visits,” said former Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel about the Martha Wright-Reed Act. “Calls from payphones are often the only way to stay connected. But the price of an individual call can be as much as many of us pay for an unlimited monthly plan. This is not just a strain on the household budget. It harms all of us because regular contact with family can reduce recidivism.”

2024: Implementation (Kind of)

In July 2024, the FCC voted on new rules around IPCS services in accordance with the Martha Wright-Reed Act. The rules were revised to include the following:

Reducing the per-minute rate caps for interstate and international audio IPCS, adopting permanent rate caps for intrastate audio IPCS, and establishing, for the first time, interim per-minute rate caps for video IPCS;
Prohibiting providers from making site commission payments associated with IPCS; and
Extending its per-minute pricing rule, which previously had been enforceable only with regard to interstate and international audio IPCS, to also apply to intrastate audio IPCS and to video IPCS.

Under the 2024 rules, the new call rates were to be $0.06 per minute for prisons and large jails, $0.07 for medium jails, $0.09 for small jails, and $0.12 for very small jails, and as low as $0.11/minute for video calls––with a requirement that per-minute rates be offered. The cost of a 15-minute phone call would drop to $0.90 from as much as $11.35 in large jails and, in small jails, to $1.35 from $12.10.

These rules largely took effect on November 19, 2024. The FCC, however, permitted IPCS providers to comply with its new rate cap rules and its prohibition against site commissions (meaning, when IPCS providers make payments to carceral facilities, the costs of which were passed through to consumers via higher IPCS rates) on a staggered basis, beginning as early as January 1, 2025 and ending no later than April 1, 2026. This was done to give IPCS providers and correctional facilities time to adjust to the new rules. These rules, specifically around site commissions and rate caps, required renegotiated contracts between providers and government officials as well as amended state and local laws and regulations.

Guide to New Low Rates and Consumer Protections for Incarcerated People’s Communications Services

Following the 2024 order, IPCS providers, states and sheriffs, and public interest advocates filed petitions for review. These petitions challenged many aspects of the Order, including the rate caps, treatment of safety and security costs, and the banning of site commissions. Petitions varied from requests for judicial review of the 2024 order to petitions for agency reconsideration with the FCC. These requests include asking the FCC to reconsider its treatment of safety and security costs as well as of site commissions.

IPCS service providers cite administrative costs, the need to stop IPCS service altogether while contracts are renegotiated and state laws adjusted, and safety and security concerns as reasons why they could not meet the deadlines of the 2024 waiver and need this delay. The 2024 rules allow for providers to compensate facilities for certain costs from the provision of IPCS, but IPCS providers have described this mechanism as "poorly defined" and "unworkable." On the subject of safety and security, there are arguments that the FCC’s treatment of safety and security costs in the 2024 IPCS Order will reduce the efficacy of safety and security measures, and “lead to abuse of the other incarcerated persons, families, friends, and the public by some users of the calling systems,” as stakeholders told the FCC.

In 2024, then-Commissioner Carr voted to approve the order, expressing concern that the rates adopted in the order might prove too low to fully compensate some facilities, especially smaller jails, and might fail to cover certain necessary safety and security costs.

2025: The Law Gets Put On Hold

Now, with Chairman Carr leading the FCC, the dynamics of the Commission have drastically changed. On June 30, 2025, one week after Commissioner Olivia Trusty was sworn in (giving the FCC a 2-1 Republican majority), the Commission released an order temporarily waiving the deadlines to comply with the rate cap, site commission, and per-minute pricing rules adopted in 2024.

The 2025 order states that the delay is needed to "ensure sufficient funding for safety and security tools, while IPCS providers and the facilities they serve address the challenges of implementing these requirements." The new order also claims that the "ongoing implementation challenges and the resulting risks to safety and security greatly exceed what the Commission considered or anticipated when it adopted the 2024 IPCS Order," and that this waiver will maintain IPCS services while the FCC considers further actions to reevaluate the 2024 rules which were required by the Martha Wright-Reed Act.

Most importantly, the compliance deadline was extended to April 1, 2027, or any alternative date the FCC sets as part of further action in the incarcerated people’s communications services proceeding. So, while this order says 2027, it is truly unclear how long this will delay the implementation of the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act.

What People Are Saying

FCC Chair Carr voiced his support for the waiver, saying:

"Today’s waiver not only supports the law enforcement community’s efforts to build systems that work for our prisons and jails, but addresses implementation challenges of the 2024 Order—in particular, dropping the rate caps too low to cover the required safety measures and before state and local governments could secure alternative funding. With today’s actions, we’re helping to ensure that communications are more readily available and that important safety and security protocols are maintained. This includes steps that can lead to broader adoption of beneficial public safety tools that include advanced AI and machine learning."

FCC Commissioner Gomez said:

“Today, the FCC made the indefensible decision to ignore both the law and the will of Congress. Last year, this agency agreed on a bipartisan basis to implement the Martha Wright-Reed Act—a bipartisan law that ensures prison communications are priced fairly and no longer exploit incarcerated people and their families. But rather than enforce the law, the Commission is now stalling, shielding a broken system that inflates costs and rewards kickbacks to correctional facilities at the expense of incarcerated individuals and their loved ones. Instead of taking targeted action to address specific concerns, the FCC issued a blanket two-year waiver that undercuts the law’s intent and postpones meaningful relief for millions of families. This is a blatant attempt to sidestep the law, and it will not go unchallenged in court...It’s time for the FCC to do its job. Its responsibility is not to protect profit-driven contracts—it is to uphold the law and serve the public."

The United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry, long-time advocates for the Martha Wright-Reed Act, also said:

"The decision to delay these rules is factually and legally wrong. No legal request for this decision was made, no public comment was sought. The decision points to claims of strain in the industry, when many prisons and jails have been complying since the rules became effective in January. The FCC points to filings from Securus, which is currently the beneficiary of a waiver of the rules it requested and received last December. Incarcerated people deserve the protections adopted by the FCC as directed by Congress. This decision is another lawless decision by the Trump Administration and this Federal Communications Commission."

What Happens Now?

Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act advocates are developing a response to the waiver, as many have spoken about the costs of this waiver to incarcerated individuals and affordable services in prisons and jails. Further, the FCC followed its June 30 order with a July 1 petition to pause the 1st Circuit Court's review of those petitions from 2024. According to the FCC, this motion is necessary while the agency considers whether to rescind or revise critical portions of the 2024 order. It will "conserve resources" of the Court and the petitioners who expressed issues with the 2024 order, which "future FCC action may narrow, alter, or moot."

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The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that all people in the U.S. have access to competitive, High-Performance Broadband regardless of where they live or who they are. We believe communication policy - rooted in the values of access, equity, and diversity - has the power to deliver new opportunities and strengthen communities.

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Kevin Taglang
Executive Editor, Communications-related Headlines
Benton Institute
for Broadband & Society
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