Prison Phone Justice Delayed: What’s at Stake and What You Can Do

On September 15, 2025, United Church of Christ Media Justice helped organize a coalition letter of faith and public interest groups urging the Federal Communications Commission to overturn its unjust and unlawful suspension of fair prison phone and video rates. This letter supports a legal filing at the FCC, in which UCC Media Justice is also deeply engaged. Earlier in 2024, families finally began to see relief from decades of predatory prison phone bills. Thanks to the bipartisan Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act—passed unanimously by Congress in 2022 and signed by President Biden in 2023—the FCC adopted new rules capping the cost of calls in jails and prisons. Those rules took effect starting in January and were fully in place by April 1, 2025. The new FCC leadership has started to dismantle the rules. This summer—without notice, public comment, or any request from industry or law enforcement—staff at the FCC suspended the rules. And now recent court filings show that the FCC Commissioners themselves will vote to end these protections for good.