Republican attorneys general from 14 U.S. states, including Arkansas and Indiana, have filed a lawsuit challenging the Federal Communications Commission's decision to impose a cap on the amount that prisons and jails can charge inmates for telephone use, Reuters reports. The FCC's rule, announced in July and due to take effect in November, would cut bills for about 2 million incarcerated people and their families, saving them an estimated $386 million annually. But the states in the lawsuit, filed on Monday with the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, argue that the FCC rule improperly caps how much money inmates can be charged for phone calls, depriving facilities of needed funding.
Other states joining the lawsuit included Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird said the FCC's restrictions, by reducing funds going to the facilities, "make it harder to identify safety risks and for law enforcement to do their jobs." Under the final rules, the cost of a 15-minute phone call would drop to 90 cents from as much as $11.35 in large jails, while in small jails, it would cost $1.35 instead of $12.10. Inmates cannot receive voice calls but families can schedule video calls through some providers. Video-call costs including for visitations would be capped under the rule for the first time, at 11 to 25 cents a minute, less than a quarter of current prices, and fees are barred.
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