Phone and video calls from prison and jail now have price caps

If someone you love is in prison or jail, calling them used to cost far more than an ordinary phone call. In 2024, a 15-minute call from some large jails cost as much as $11.35. This law gave the FCC authority to cap in-state audio calls and video calls. A 2017 court ruling had limited the FCC to interstate and international audio calls.

Every provider must offer a per-minute option; you don’t need to apply. Since April 6, 2026, its domestic audio rate can be no more than 11 cents a minute from a prison and 10 to 19 cents from a jail, depending on size. That includes a facility additive of up to 2 cents but not permitted government taxes and fees. International audio calls may add the cost of reaching the foreign destination. Video rates are capped at 19 to 44 cents a minute.

Martha Wright-Reed, a retired nurse who paid hundreds of dollars a month to call her grandson in prison, fought for lower rates for more than 20 years. Sen. Tammy Duckworth wrote the bill with Republican Sen. Rob Portman, and Rep. Bobby Rush pushed a House version. The Senate passed it by unanimous consent and the House by voice vote in December 2022. President Joe Biden signed it on January 5, 2023.

The FCC set lower caps in 2024, then delayed them and replaced them with higher interim caps in a 2–1 vote in 2025. Those caps are in effect, but a prison-phone provider is challenging parts of the order in federal court.