Price of US prison calls to plummet after regulators slash sky-high phone rates

The Federal Communications Commission is ending a system that can cost inmates up to $17 a minute - cutting calls to between 11 and 22 cents a minute

Federal regulators moved to cap the costs of prison phone calls on Thursday in a move to end a system that has driven the price of a call as high as $17 a minute.

At a meeting in Washington the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to cap rates on inmate calls made from one state to another. Prison calls have been driven sky high by fees charged by telephone companies, commissions and fees charged by prisons to monitor calls and for other services.