Final rule · 2025-22125

Incarcerated People's Communication Services; Implementation of the Martha Wright-Reed Act; Rates for Interstate Inmate Calling Services

In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) modifies the Commission's previous incarcerated people's communications services (IPCS) rate caps in response to record evidence of the significant unintended consequences of those rate caps. It establishes new interim audio and video IPCS rate caps by basing the calculation of the Commission's rate caps only on billed minutes, incorporating all safety and security measure expenses that IPCS providers reported incurring, and creating an additional rate cap tier for extremely small jails. It also creates a separate interim rate additive to ensure recovery of correctional facilities' costs of administering IPCS. Additionally, it sets a new compliance date for providers' compliance with the new rules and clarifies that the rate cap, site commission, and per-minute pricing rules from the Commission's 2021 Order will no longer apply following that date.