In July, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) limited the rates that prison telecommunications companies can charge for phone and video calling services in prisons and jails. Historically, those rates have been exorbitant—a 15-minute phone call could cost more than $12—making it incredibly difficult for incarcerated people to communicate with loved ones.

The new rate caps, which go into effect next year, range from $0.06 per minute for all prisons and large jails to $0.12 per minute at very small jails for audio calls.

The FCC also capped the cost of video visitation calls, which, according to the agency, will now be less than a quarter of current prices. This is particularly meaningful for people held in jails that have eliminated in-person visitation, leaving video calls as now the only way to see loved ones. Rate caps on video calls will vary from $0.11 to $0.25 per minute depending on the type of facility and its size. The new rules also prohibit providers from charging fees for separate “ancillary services” and curb kickbacks paid by companies to corrections systems.

It’s an important move—and one that was much needed. Confronted with predatory and inflated costs for phone and video calls, incarcerated people and their loved ones have struggled to stay connected. Family members have reported spending as much as $500 per month and working multiple jobs so they can afford calls to incarcerated loved ones. More than one in three families with an incarcerated family member report going into debt to stay connected.

The FCC’s order will help alleviate some of those costs. Worth Rises, a nonprofit advocacy organization, estimates that the new rules will impact 1.4 million incarcerated people—or 83 percent of people behind bars—and save impacted families at least $500 million annually.

But there are other ways that correctional facilities and telecom companies still levy steep charges on communications between incarcerated people and their loved ones. Fees to send e-messages and even mail quickly add up, making it costly for people in prison to maintain ties with their support systems.

Charged by the minute for e-messaging

As the cost of phone calls has been increasingly regulated in recent years, telecom companies have sought revenue sources via new services they can offer to people in prison. One such service is text-based electronic messaging, or e-messaging, which has become increasingly available to people in prisons. While e-messaging has enabled incarcerated people and their loved ones to communicate in ways that can be more accessible, its unregulated growth has allowed companies to charge fees in a variety of ways.

“We pay for every minute we spend using messaging services, whether we’re typing, reading, or looking at photos,” wrote Lyle C. May in Slate. May, who was incarcerated at North Carolina’s Central Prison, said a 1,500-minute package costs $15 in North Carolina prisons. Those prices might not seem excessive to people outside of prison, but in prison, not everyone has access to a job, and those that do often earn pennies per day, which must also cover other necessities, like soap.

“It could easily take a month’s worth of work to afford a $15 bundle without support from friends and family on the outside,” wrote May.

While people in North Carolina prisons pay for every minute they spend on the messaging app, family and friends outside of prison pay a flat fee of $0.25 per message or photo. Companies profit twice off every message—both when it’s sent and when it’s received.

The cost to send an e-message from prison ranges widely from state to state. A Prison Policy Initiative (PPI) survey found that the cost per message could be completely free (Connecticut) or as high as $0.50 (Alaska and Arkansas), with most states charging between $0.27 to $0.30 per e-message. “This wide range suggests that prices are not tied to the actual costs companies incur to transmit a message,” wrote the survey’s authors, “but rather set at the point that will maximize profits.”

Digitizing physical mail means more fees

More and more prisons are eliminating physical mail. Instead, these facilities photocopy or scan incoming mail, and then pass those inferior versions on to incarcerated people. Recipients are unable to hold their child’s drawing, their parent’s handwritten letter, or a family photo. Instead, they receive letters with missing pages and blurry images.

Essentially, what was once the most affordable and most common form of communication for people who are incarcerated is now tedious, complicated, and, in some cases, impossible.

In 2022, PPI found that mail scanning had expanded to at least 14 state prison systems and 15 jails. Those numbers are likely an undercount, as it’s difficult to determine just how many facilities have implemented policies that supplant physical mail with second-rate photocopies and scans. Corrections departments say they have adopted mail scanning to obtain greater control over materials entering their facilities and ensure safety, but little evidence supports this approach.

And this practice, too, offers companies new opportunities to charge fees.

In 2021, North Carolina started requiring senders to use an app from the contractor TextBehind to draft letters or create digital cards and drawings. The app charges senders a fee for each message. While it’s unclear exactly how much those fees amount to, reporting suggests the fees start at $0.49 and increase with every photo or drawing. Alternatively, people can send mail to TextBehind’s Maryland facility, where TextBehind will scan and deliver a digital copy to the recipient. The original will be shredded—unless the sender pays a $2.50 return fee.

The Florida Department of Corrections started digitizing incoming mail via vendor Smart Communications in 2022. Mail must be sent to a central processing facility, where it will be scanned and shared with recipients electronically. People in prison can request to have the scans printed for them for $0.10 per page in black and white or one dollar per page in color.

In Texas state prisons, which phased out physical mail in 2023, the new digital platform is so confusing—and prices are so outrageous—that some people in prison have forgone correspondence altogether.

The real cost

For-profit companies levy these charges not because they have to but because they can. Beyond the financial cost, there is the significant societal cost. Research shows that when incarcerated people maintain connections with loved ones, it leads to better outcomes for all. People who maintain ties with loved ones while incarcerated are, for example, more likely to secure stable housing and employment when they return to their communities.

After decades of advocacy by incarcerated people and their loved ones, the FCC has finally curbed a predatory practice. However, state and federal agencies must still work to ensure that the companies providing these services don’t simply find new ways to exploit incarcerated people and their families.