In 2023, Congress passed the Martha Wright-Reed Act, which gave the FCC broader authority to regulate prison and jail communication costs, including intrastate calling and video. That mattered because for years, prison telecom prices had been challenged, but earlier FCC efforts had been partly limited by the courts.

In July 2024, the FCC used that authority to adopt major reforms aimed at lowering prices for incarcerated people and their families. The agency said it was capping “exorbitant” phone and video rates, and Reuters reported that a 15-minute call in large jails would drop from as much as $11.35 to 90 cents, while the FCC estimated savings of about $386 million for incarcerated people and their families. The FCC also targeted extra fees and set initial video caps.

That was the big win families had been waiting for. The basic idea was: family contact should not be treated like a luxury product. The FCC’s own consumer guide says it is working to rein in excessive rates and egregious fees paid by families trying to stay in touch with loved ones in custody.

Then the fight shifted. After the 2024 order, prison telecom companies, some facilities, and other parties challenged the rules in court, while the FCC also received pressure and additional filings arguing that the 2024 framework had created implementation problems. In 2025, the FCC revisited the rules and said the 2024 rate caps had produced “significant unintended consequences,” including claimed safety, security, and operational concerns. It then adopted new interim audio and video rate caps, created a separate interim additive for correctional facilities’ administration costs, and set a new compliance date of April 6, 2026.

That is why advocates were alarmed in late 2025. Stateline reported that the FCC had voted to roll back parts of the earlier rate limits and allow prisons and jails to charge more for phone and video calls than under the 2024 framework. In other words, after families had finally won stronger cost protections, the rules were loosened again before the fight was over.

As of now, the case is not over. There are still active legal challenges, and the fight has moved into the appellate courts. The D.C. Circuit just transferred a consolidated challenge over the FCC’s latest prison phone rate order to the First Circuit because that court already has related petitions involving the same underlying FCC proceedings. That means the broader dispute is now continuing in one appellate venue instead of being split across multiple courts.

There is also still a policy fight underway at the FCC itself. In its late-2025 notice, the FCC asked for more input on permanent rate caps, whether the ban on ancillary fees should stay in place, whether payment-related fees should come back, and how to handle facility-cost recovery going forward. That means the current rules are still part of an evolving battle, not the final word.

This fight started as a major victory against predatory prison communication costs. Then it became a tug-of-war over whether those protections would really stick. Right now, the fight is headed into the First Circuit and toward future FCC decisions on permanent rules.

That is why family voices still matter. If the only people speaking are providers, contractors, and agencies, the “real-world cost” side of the story gets buried. The people best positioned to explain the harm are the families paying the bills. The formal FCC comment deadline on this round has already passed, but complaints, constituent pressure, and documented family impact still matter. Future oversight and rulemaking will depend on whether families keep showing that this issue is causing real harm.

If you want lower costs and stronger protections, here are 3 specific things you can do:

1. File an FCC complaint: Go to the FCC Consumer Complaint Center at and report unfair phone or video costs, extra fees, poor service, dropped calls, or billing issues related to incarcerated communications. Read the FCC incarcerated communications guide at https://fcc.gov/consumers/guides/…

👉 Tell Them: “I am reporting the cost and/or quality of incarcerated people’s communication services. My loved one is housed at [facility]. The provider is [company]. We were charged [amount] for [phone/video/deposit fee], and this has created a hardship for our family. I want this documented as part of the need for stronger consumer protections and affordable rates.”

2. Contact your members of Congress: Find your U.S. House member at http://house.gov/representatives/… and contact your U.S. Senators at https://senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm/

👉 Tell Them: “I’m a constituent, and my family is directly affected by prison phone and video costs. Please support strong FCC protections that keep communication affordable for incarcerated people and their families. These costs make it harder to stay connected, support our loved ones, and maintain family bonds. I want your office to push for lower rates, fewer fees, and real oversight.”

3. Document everything: If you send information to UPAN, please include the facility, provider, date, exact charges, and screenshots or receipts if possible. Our email address is [email protected].

Families do not need to be lawyers to make a difference. The people paying the price are exactly the people who should be heard!

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FCC allows prisons, jails to charge more for phone and video calls • Stateline

stateline.org

The Federal Communications Commission voted to roll back limits on how much companies can charge incarcerated people and their families for phone and video calls. The 2-1 vote in late October reverses rate caps the FCC adopted last year under a 2023 law that allows the agency to set limits on prison...

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The U.S. Department of Justice has released its FY 2027 Federal Prison System budget request, and several parts are especially relevant to families following incarceration, prison safety, healthcare, and reentry issues. The request totals about $10.3 billion and covers a federal prison population of more than 153,000 people.

Some of the biggest proposed increases focus on:

* Staffing: about $454.7 million to raise salaries for law enforcement staff working in institutions, aimed at recruitment and retention.
* Reentry / halfway house expansion: about $106.9 million to add up to 3,800 more Residential Reentry Center bed spaces, expand home confinement in underserved areas, and reduce bottlenecks that keep eligible people in prison longer than necessary.
* Mail scanning and attorney-client email: about $46 million to expand off-site mail scanning and create a secure attorney-client email system, in part because the Bureau says drug-soaked mail has become a major contraband and overdose risk.
* Healthcare modernization: funding for telehealth expansion and an electronic medical record replacement, which could affect how care is delivered and tracked inside federal prisons.

Why does this matter? Because even though this is a federal prison budget, it reflects many of the same issues families in Utah talk about all the time: staffing shortages, contraband and drug exposure, delayed reentry placements, mental health and medical care, and the importance of keeping people connected to legal counsel and community support. The budget also explicitly acknowledges that when prerelease placements are delayed, it can disrupt employment, healthcare connections, family engagement, and successful reintegration.

We’re sharing this as a policy watch item because budgets tell us a lot about what problems government systems say they are trying to solve — and where they are choosing to invest resources.

Document:
U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Prison System FY 2027 Performance Budget https://justice.gov/jmd/media/… ... See MoreSee Less

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This research speaks to something many families already know from lived experience: incarceration is not only a criminal legal issue. It is also a health issue.

A new Penn LDI research update explains that incarceration should be understood as a major social determinant of health, with long-term effects that can extend far beyond prison walls. The article highlights research presented by Penn sociologist Jason Schnittker, who argued that incarceration can worsen mental and physical health over time, especially after release, and that its effects ripple outward to families, communities, and health systems as well.

According to the Penn summary, formerly incarcerated people face elevated risks of infectious disease, stress-related conditions, overdose, and poor overall health after release. The article also notes that incarceration itself appears to causally worsen health, particularly mental health, and that it more than doubles the risk of mood disorders such as major depression.

This matters for Utah families because it reinforces why incarceration cannot be viewed in isolation from medical care, mental health care, family connection, and reentry support. The Penn article specifically points to solutions such as stronger pre- and post-release health interventions, better mental health support, maintaining family connections during incarceration, and reducing stigma during reentry.

At UPAN, we know the effects of incarceration do not stop at the prison gate. They can affect entire families and shape a person’s chances of stability, healing, and successful reintegration long after release.

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Incarceration as Social Determinant of Health

ldi.upenn.edu

Incarceration is large-scale social determinant of health with broad and enduring dynamics that harm individuals, families, and communities

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This is a serious reminder that contraband entering Utah’s prisons does not just create legal consequences for the person accused of bringing it in. It can also increase danger inside the facilities for incarcerated people, staff, and the broader prison environment.

According to KUTV, a 48-year-old Magna woman was charged after investigators alleged she attempted to mail hundreds of drug-infused sheets of paper to people at both the Utah State Correctional Facility and the Central Utah Correctional Facility. The report says UDC credited surveillance technology, mail screening, investigators, and K-9 detection in helping identify and stop the alleged smuggling attempt.

For families with loved ones at USCF, stories like this are concerning for another reason too: drugs inside prisons can fuel debt, coercion, violence, exploitation, and gang-related pressure among incarcerated populations. When contraband gets into a facility, the fallout is often felt far beyond the individual case. That can affect housing units, safety, discipline, and daily life for many other people inside. This is one more reason why prison safety, contraband prevention, and meaningful accountability all matter.

We’re sharing this as a cautionary reminder that attempts to introduce contraband into correctional facilities can have wide ripple effects for the entire prison community.

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Magna woman faces felony charges for attempting to smuggle drugs into Utah prisons

kutv.com

Investments in technology, law enforcement professionals, and drug-sniffing K-9s helped stop drugs from entering the state prison, according to the Utah Departm

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