What kind of company wants to keep their prices a secret? Usually, if they won’t tell you what their product costs, it’s a good bet that it costs too much.
We’re unfortunately well-acquainted with another group of companies that don’t want to tell you the price: incarcerated people’s communications service providers (IPCS). Why? Well, in their case, not only are the prices usually too high, but most users don’t have a choice about which company to use. If you want to talk to Uncle Joe, and he’s incarcerated, the facility where he’s located picks the communications company you must use.
In the past, many companies that serve incarcerated people and their families typically revealed prices to account holders only. That means someone was forced to share all their contact information with a company by making an account before seeing a price. It meant potential users couldn’t assess how making calls would impact their budget. And they couldn’t compare prices at different facilities—which might reveal that one facility’s prices are outrageous.
For advocates and scholars tracking prices across the country, it has often meant using a cumbersome FOIA process requesting contracts and other documents to get pricing information.
The great news is that UCC Media Justice and our allies pressed the Federal Communications Commission to mandate public disclosure of prices for IPCS. The FCC explicitly stated that prices must be on public websites and directed that no one should have to make an account to see prices. That rule went into effect across the country—no exceptions—on January 1, 2025. (To learn more about the new rules, read our consumer guide.)
Even though the rule mandates public disclosure, many companies are flouting this new rule, in particular, Talton Communications, a licensee of Global Tel-Link, which serves all ICE immigration detention facilities, has not made its rates public. Even worse, they are asking for an exception to the FCC’s rules—but Talton won’t reveal its current rates or the ones it proposes to charge if it gets an exception.
UCC Media Justice has led a group of advocates opposing any increase over the new price caps and opposing requests for government exceptions in secret. The great news is that the FCC seems to recognize that the company is not complying with its rules and has paused considering Talton’s request.
We won an initial skirmish, but we need support to help stop companies like Talton from breaking the law. We’ll press on in court defending the FCC’s rules in the first place. And we’ll keep working to ensure everyone knows about the new protections and benefit from them. Will you support this work to bring transparency and reasonable pricing to incarcerated people and their loved ones, particularly in immigrant detention at a time when so many people are being locked up or are in fear of current aggressive and often illegal enforcement of immigration laws?
Many of us call our parents in May and June to celebrate a long relationship of love and support. Some kids need to use the phone because a parent is far away in a prison or jail. The least we can do to treat our neighbors as ourselves and protect the lives of families and children is to ensure that picking up the phone does not cost a day’s worth of groceries.