private prisons

The Federal Communications Commission, an agency controlled by appointees of US President Donald Trump, voted Tuesday to raise the maximum price for prison phone calls—a gift to telecom firms and private prison giants that profit from what critics have long described as predatory charges.

The agency's 2-1 vote rolled back a Biden-era cap on the price of prison phone calls, a limit that the FCC estimated would have collectively saved incarcerated people and their loved ones hundreds of millions of dollars a year. The Equal Justice Initiative noted earlier this year that "many families struggle with the high cost of phone calls and video visits, which are especially critical for people incarcerated far away from their families."