Biden signs law to curb costs of expensive prison phone calls, a major blow to a ‘predatory’ industry

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President Joe Biden has signed a law allowing federal regulators to address the enormously high costs of making phone and video calls while incarcerated.

The bipartisan Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act allows the Federal Communications Commission to ensure telecommunications companies charge “just and reasonable” rates to incarcerated people, who on average are billed $3 for a 15-minute phone call, not counting fees and other additional charges connected to the $1.4bn industry.