FCC Boosts Prison Phone Rates After Industry Gripes
Published Date: 12/5/2025
Rule
Summary
The FCC is updating phone and video call rates for people in jail to make sure prices are fair for everyone. They’re setting new rules that consider real costs, including safety expenses, and adding special rates for tiny jails. These changes kick in December 5, 2025, with full compliance required by April 6, 2026, affecting inmates, jails, and service providers.
Analyzed Economic Effects
5 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 2 costs, 3 mixed.
Excluding Unbilled Minutes Raises Caps
If you or a family member is incarcerated, the FCC now calculates call rate caps using only billed minutes instead of billed plus unbilled minutes. Removing unbilled minutes increases per-minute industry averages by as little as 6.2% and as much as 63.7% depending on service and tier, which can allow higher per-minute charges.
New Extremely Small Jail Tier (0–49 ADP)
The FCC created a new rate tier for jails with an average daily population (ADP) of 0 to 49 and moved jails with ADP 50–99 into a separate very small jail tier. Most people in the old 0–99 group (those in 50–99 ADP jails) will likely pay lower rates, while people in the new extremely small jail tier (0–49 ADP) may pay marginally higher rates to reflect higher provider costs.
All Safety/Security Costs Now Included
The FCC will include all reported safety and security expense categories when calculating the interim rate caps for inmate audio and video calls. The Commission says this change is intended to preserve needed security tools and avoid facilities losing access to communications services.
Facility Cost Additive: Up to $0.02/Minute
The FCC allows a separate, uniform facility cost additive of up to $0.02 per minute that correctional facilities can recover in addition to the new interim per-minute audio and video caps. This additive is the same for all size tiers and may be charged on top of the per-minute rate caps.
Interim Rate Caps Effective and Compliance Dates
The rule is effective December 5, 2025, and providers must be in compliance with the new rules by April 6, 2026. After the compliance date, the rate cap, site commission, and per-minute pricing rules from the Commission's 2021 Order will no longer apply.
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Key Dates
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