WASHINGTON — On July 30, a coalition of public interest groups—including UCC (United Church of Christ) Media Justice Ministry, Worth Rises, and the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society—filed an Application for Review urging the Federal Communications Commission to reverse a recent decision by its Wireline Competition Bureau that suspended implementation of 2024 rules aimed at lowering the cost of phone calls from prisons.
The groups argue that the suspension undermines protections granted in the bipartisan 2023 Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act, which tasks the FCC with “ensuring affordable and just communications services for incarcerated people.”
The Wireline Competition Bureau’s decision halts the implementation of a unanimously adopted 2024 FCC order on Incarcerated Person Calling Services, which went into effect earlier this year. The order mandated a reduction in the cost of a 15-minute call from $11.35 to $0.90 in large jails and from $12.10 to $1.35 in small jails.
Mignon Clyburn, former acting FCC chairwoman and Benton Institute board member, criticized the Bureau’s decision, calling the suspension order a “gross injustice.”
According to a press release from Worth Rises, thousands of individuals have already submitted filings protesting the decision. The Application for Review provides the legal mechanism for the FCC to reverse the Bureau’s order.
“Every day of delay deepens the harm to families forced to pay predatory prices just to stay connected to their loved ones,” said Bianca Tylek, executive director of Worth Rises.
The coalition also alleges that the suspension order “was issued without any request from any party and did not include a public process.”
Tylek and Cheryl Leanza, policy advisor at the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry, both stated that the Bureau’s action exceeds its legal authority.
The Application for Review argues the suspension order is flawed for three reasons: it violates Congress’s statutory mandate for the FCC to implement the 2024 rules, the content and procedure violate the Administrative Procedure Act, and the Bureau exceeded its authority through an ultra vires rulemaking.
Harold Feld, senior vice president at Public Knowledge, called for the FCC to reverse the order, stating, “It is more than an affront to due process and the will of Congress. It is an affront to fundamental fairness and human decency.”
