Last week, the Federal Communications Commission voted to adopt an order that will lower rates across the country for phone calls between incarcerated people and their loved ones and establish rate caps for carceral video communications for the first time.
So much of policy work involves detailed arguments, legal research, numerical analysis, and digging into long-standing FCC precedent and legal precedent to provide input to a ruling that will also be analyzed for years to come.
But one of the most special parts of the FCC meeting and our celebrations afterward was seeing all the people involved and how they were affected:
- Ulandis Forte, who has become a friend and a fellow advocate, spoke about the legacy of his grandmother, Martha Wright-Reed, saying, “No one could ever imagine the fear and loneliness of not even having the opportunity to communicate, grow, teach, laugh, learn, and enjoy life with friends and loved ones if you never had it taken away from you by greedy machines that only have love for money…”
- An FCC staffer approached after the vote to show off her grandmother’s jewelry that she was wearing for the vote in honor of grandmother Martha Wright-Reed and also to say how her own family had been personally impacted by predatory rates.
- Chair Rosenworcel told the story of an incarcerated mom who came to one of the FCC listening sessions. The mom explained she would do anything to save money so she could call her children — including volunteering for the least desirable jobs in prison, like cleaning the bathrooms — so that she could take other people’s leftover pieces of soap to use for herself and thus save on the cost of buying it in the commissary.
I had an opportunity to thank and praise the Senate staffer who pressed to try just one more time to pass the bill at the end of a difficult legislative session. Without that willingness to never stop pushing, we would not be here today. So many other talented staff and policymakers who wrote the language negotiated hard, redlined language, held hearings, invited testimony, visited prisons, and spoke to family members. We benefitted from the tremendous efforts of Rebekah Goodheart and Gregory Capobianco, pro bono attorneys at Jenner & Block, who represented the Wright Petitioners at the FCC, and the economists at Brattle Group, who also offered their time free of charge for a good cause.
Staunch allies from the early days to this moment, like Media Justice, Color of Change, National Consumer Law Center and CURE, played a huge part in making this moment possible. One of our biggest champions was Mignon Clyburn — former acting FCC chair and former FCC commissioner and someone admired by everyone in the communications policy world. She has not only stood up for justice on this issue but also helped others learn the ropes and lead the way.
The United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry and our allies have been working on this for a long time. In early 2023, we celebrated the passage of the Martha Wright-Reed Just & Reasonable Communications Act. The UCC’s involvement goes back many decades — Frank Krogh, a member of Rock Spring Congregational UCC in Arlington, Va., represented the Martha Wright-Reed coalition on a pro bono basis when it first petitioned the FCC to address the issue. Thursday, July 18, 2024, is a day we’ll remember.
Just as we take time to celebrate the victory and the progress, we also begin to gird for the next effort. As it happened before, we fully expect this decision to be challenged in court. UCC Media Justice is getting ready for the next step. My expertise is in high demand as advocates strategize to defend the order. This will take coordination and long experience on this issue and in-court victories — the kind of expertise only UCC Media Justice can provide.
While we raise some funds every year at our annual Parker Lecture, those funds only go so far. We need financial support right now from our friends and allies as we keep going to preserve this well-won decision. Will you rush a donation of any amount to UCC Media Justice to help us protect this massive victory for prison phone justice?