Biden signs bill mandating ‘just and reasonable’ phone rates for prisoners

From [HERE] US President Joe Biden Thursday signed a bill reducing the cost of making calls from prisons into law. The Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act of 2021 will direct the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to enforce guidelines which ensure that payphone providers charge incarcerated people “just and reasonable rates” for phone calls. The signing comes after the FCC attempted to reduce the costs of phone calls in 2017 but was ruled against by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia which held that the FCC did not have the authority to set rate caps on calls.

Congress passed the legislation in December 2022 before it was sent to President Biden to be signed. It aims to establish requirements “related to charges, practices, or regulations in connection with confinement facility communications services.” It also “prohibits providers from assessing a site commission.” The US House of Representatives introduced an early version of the bill, the Martha Prison Phone Justice Act, in April.

The recently passed legislation imposes “private-sector mandates,” congressional directives which require private-sector entities to act in some way. The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (UMRA) defines the boundaries of these mandates. The Congressional Budget Office says that the “total cost of the [new law’s] mandates on private entities would exceed the annual threshold established in UMRA for private-sector mandates.”

Special Assistant to the President for Criminal Justice and Guns Policy, Vanessa Chen, comments that “meaningful communication and connection with loved ones (promotes) rehabilitation and can reduce recidivism,” thereby leading to safer communities. The bill is named after retired nurse Martha Wright-Reed, who advocated for affordable telephone rates after her grandson was incarcerated.