Incarcerated Individuals

On June 26, 2024, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded the Nevada Governor's Office of Science, Innovation and Technology (OSIT) over $9 million to implement the state's Digital Equity Plan, the first state to receive funding under the Digital Equity Capacity Grant program.

On July 24, 2024, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration published the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Competitive Grant Program. The Competitive Grant Program is the third (and final) set of funds available from the

On July 24, the U.S.

As required by the Digital Equity Act, the $1.25 billion Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program will be established soon, making hundreds of millions of dollars available in the first Notice of Funding Opportunity to implement digital inclusion projects. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act mandates that funding be directed towards programs designed to empower those impacted by the digital divide, known as Covered Populations.

The Federal Communications Commission voted to end exorbitant phone and video call rates that have burdened incarcerated people and their families for decades. Under the new rules, the cost of a 15-minute phone call will drop to $0.90 from as much as $11.35 in large jails and, in small jails, to $1.35 from $12.10. The new rules also, for the first time, address the exorbitant cost of video visitation calls, dropping those prices to less than a quarter of current prices and requiring per-minute rate options based on consumers’ actual usage.

July 18 marks a major milestone on the long road to right a market dysfunction that has wronged incarcerated persons and their loved ones for decades.  The Federal Communications Commission’s vote on Bringing Common Sense and Fairness to Correctional Facility Phone Rates will lower rates for voice phone calls including, perhaps most importantly, local and intrastate calls.  Among the many other long overdue reforms, the agency’s Report and Order will end kickbacks, euphemistically called “site commissions,” to carceral facilities.  No less significantly, the new measures are forward-looking

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will hold an Open Meeting on the following subjects on Thursday, July 18, 2024, which is scheduled to commence at 10:30 a.m. in the Commission Meeting Room of the Federal Communications Commission. 

The Federal Communications Commission has proposed new rules to reduce phone and video call rates for incarcerated people, a move that could dramatically reshape the business of prison telecom providers such as ViaPath Technologies and Avent

Here’s what to expect for the Federal Communications Commission's jam-packed July Open Meeting agenda.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will vote to end exorbitant phone and video call rates that have burdened incarcerated people and their families for decades.