Advocates Applaud the Advancement of Legislation Restoring FCC's Authority to Address High Cost Phone Calls for the Incarcerated

On March 22, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee moved the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act of 2021 (S.1541) out of committee after a markup. Introduced in 2021 by Sen Tammy Duckworth (D–IL), the bill advanced with an amendment agreed to by prison phone justice advocates and the National Sheriffs’ Association. The bill would restore the Federal Communications Commission’s authority to regulate all prison and jail calls and stop prison telecom corporations from charging incarcerated people and their loved ones predatory rates. The bill is named in honor of Mrs. Martha Wright-Reed, who fought for affordable prison call rates for more than 20 years. Phone calls were the only way Wright-Reed could stay in touch with her grandson while he was incarcerated. As a blind elderly woman, she could not write letters or travel long distances to visit him. The Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act would allow the FCC to address the predatory prices that incarcerated people and their loved ones have had to pay to communicate with each other. The legislation clarifies the FCC’s authority to regulate all prison and jail calls. In 2017, a federal court limited the agency’s authority over intrastate calls and held that the agency could regulate only interstate calls. Worth Rises, Color Of Change, United Church of Christ’s Media Justice Ministry, Free Press Action, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the National Consumer Law Center, Public Knowledge and New America’s Open Technology Institute commend Sen Duckworth for her efforts to advance this important legislation on a bipartisan basis as it promises to improve the lives of people across the country.