The Federal Communications Commission has capped the rates inmates pay for phone and video calls, officials announced Thursday.

The cost of phone calls will drop dramatically for incarcerated people under new rules that federal regulators approved last week, concluding a decades-long effort to provide relief to the nation ...

WASHINGTON — Hefty phone bills for inmates in U.S. prisons and jails were slashed by the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday, affecting about 2 million incarcerated persons and their ...

Hefty phone bills for inmates in U.S. prisons and jails were slashed by the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday, affecting about 2 million incarcerated persons and their families.

The FCC voted to lower the cost of calls for inmates. The Fayette County Detention Center lowered the costs earlier this year.

In 2021, Kentucky jails had an average cost of around $0.20 for both in and out-of-state phone calls per minute.

Congress passed legislation in 2023 to give the FCC broad authority to cut inmate calls costs after caps set by the agency were reversed by the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia in 2017.

Prison phone prices FCC chair decides inmates and their families must keep paying high phone prices Chairman Carr waives new price caps until 2027, may raise them before then.

The FCC voted last Thursday to approve regulations, to take effect next year, that cap the price of inmate phone and video calls at prices as low as 5 cents per minute.

Congress passed legislation in 2023 to give the FCC broad authority to cut inmate calls costs after caps set by the agency were reversed by the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia in 2017.