Prisoner Advocate: Inmate Calling Rules Are in Effect and Must Be Followed
The FCC’s July order reducing call rates for people in prison while establishing interim rate caps for video calls (see 2407180039) is effectively the law of the land, and prisons must follow it, said Bianca Tylek, executive director of Worth Rises, which represents the interests of prisoners. Tylek noted Thursday at a press conference that the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is hearing challenges to the order (see 2407180039), hasn’t granted a stay. “It is very normal for an industry to litigate and sue a federal agency when it gets regulated,” she said. “That happens in every single industry … The rules are in effect right now.”
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Overturning the rules isn’t “a matter of agency discretion,” Tylek said. The FCC acted at the instruction of Congress in the Martha Wright-Reed Act of 2022, she said. Congress gave the FCC authority to impose rules “and then told it it had to.”