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The FCC’s 2025 order changed how interim price caps for calls and video communications from prisons and jails are calculated. It also added a separate $0.02-per-minute facility-cost charge. Those changes could mean higher allowable charges than under the 2024 framework, but they do not establish that every facility raised its prices. The order covers both audio and video services; compliance was required by April 6, 2026.
What the FCC changed in 2025
The Federal Communications Commission adopted Order FCC 25-75 on October 28, 2025, and released it on November 6. The order revises the interim rate-cap methodology for incarcerated people’s communications services, or IPCS, including audio calls and video communications. The agency said the changes addressed unintended effects of its earlier approach, including safety and security concerns and reduced service availability. Those are the FCC’s stated reasons, not a finding that every facility experienced those effects. FCC 25-75 FCC announcement
- Unbilled minutes: The FCC excluded unbilled minutes from the calculations used to set caps.
- Very small jails: It created a new rate tier for extremely small jails.
- Safety and security expenses: It included certain costs providers reported that the earlier caps had excluded.
- Facility costs: It removed estimated correctional-facility costs from the cap calculations and created a separate additive to recover those costs.
The FCC’s October 28 announcement described that facility-cost additive as a uniform $0.02 per minute, separate from the revised caps. This is an addition to the cap framework, not a statement that every caller’s total price increased by exactly two cents per minute: actual charges depend on the applicable cap and facility or provider pricing. FCC announcement
Why the headline says families may pay more
The 2025 framework changed what costs and minutes were included in setting the interim caps and added the separate facility-cost charge. Compared with the 2024 framework, those changes could allow higher charges in some circumstances. But the available 2025 figures here do not establish the detailed per-tier cap amounts or show what any particular facility charged. A cap is a limit on allowable rates, not a price list proving what each person paid.
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The 2024 FCC fact sheet said the earlier rules were expected to produce a 15-minute call price of $0.90 in large jails and $1.35 in small jails. These are historical estimates announced in July 2024; they are not the 2025 cap schedule or a reliable statement of current charges. FCC 2024 fact sheet
In a statement accompanying the 2024 order, FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gomez cited a 2021 average prison-call cost: “As of 2021, the average cost of a 15-minute phone call from prison was $5.74—more than nine times the cost of a 15-minute phone call anywhere else in the United States.” Gomez also reported that one in three families had entered debt to pay for calls and visits with incarcerated relatives. These are Gomez’s 2024 statements about a 2021 figure and statistic, not measurements of prices or family debt in 2025. Gomez’s statement accompanying FCC 24-75
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- Dialing Instructions: Dial the appropriate access number from the phone card, when prompted enter PIN number, then your destination number including the country code. Important: do not press talk button after international number, do not call from your phone contacts after dialing pin number or you will be billed at your carrier rates. No reimbursement of such phone company or hotel charges allowed.
- Call Africa: Nigeria Ethiopia Egypt Democratic Republic of the Congo South Africa Tanzania Kenya Sudan Algeria Uganda Morocco Mozambique Ghana Angola Ivory Coast Madagascar Cameroon Niger Burkina Faso Mali Malawi Zambia Somalia Senegal Chad Zimbabwe Rwanda Tunisia Guinea Benin Burundi South Sudan Togo Eritrea Sierra Leone Libya Republic of the Congo Central African Republic Liberia Mauritania Namibia Botswana
- Call Europe: Russia Germany Turkey France United Kingdom Italy Spain Ukraine Poland Romania Kazakhstan Netherlands Belgium Greece Czech Republic Portugal Sweden Azerbaijan Hungary Belarus Austria Switzerland Bulgaria Serbia Denmark Finland Slovakia Norway Ireland Croatia Georgia Moldova Bosnia and Herzegovina Armenia Albania Lithuania North Macedonia Slovenia Latvia Kosovo Estonia Cyprus Montenegro Luxembourg Malta Iceland Andorra Monaco Liechtenstein San Marino Vatican City
- Call MidEast: Iran Turkey Iraq Saudi Arabia Yemen Syria Jordan United Arab Emirates Israel Lebanon Palestine Oman Kuwait Qatar Bahrain Call Latin America: Brazil Colombia Argentina Peru Venezuela Chile Ecuador Bolivia Paraguay Uruguay Guyana Suriname FrenchGuiana Falkland Islands
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When the revised rules took effect
The order was adopted October 28 and released November 6, 2025. The revised rules and interim caps took effect when published in the Federal Register on December 5, 2025; providers were required to comply by April 6, 2026. That compliance date has passed. The FCC also set a uniform compliance date for the site-commission ban, according to its announcement. FCC 25-75 FCC Wireline Competition Bureau public notice FCC announcement
Who supported the order
Chairman Brendan Carr and Commissioner Olivia Trusty approved the order; Commissioner Anna M. Gomez dissented. The vote record identifies statements by Carr and Trusty and a dissenting statement by Gomez. The change is therefore accurately described as an FCC action approved by its Republican commissioners, with a Democratic commissioner dissenting; the vote itself does not establish the effect on any individual family’s bill. FCC 25-75 FCC announcement
What families can check on a bill
Because the federal framework sets caps rather than one universal charge, a family trying to understand a bill should compare the facility’s rate information with the charges shown by its communications provider. Check whether the charge is for audio or video service, the billed duration, and any listed facility-cost component. The $0.02-per-minute additive described by the FCC is part of the framework; it does not by itself identify the full rate or prove that a charge was calculated correctly.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.The legal context
FCC 25-75 is part of the Commission’s implementation of the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act of 2022. The FCC describes its task as setting just and reasonable rates and charges while ensuring providers are fairly compensated. The 2025 order is an interim framework adopted while the agency sought further comment. FCC 25-75 FCC announcement
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