Everyone wants an affordable way to call loved ones, but for the millions imprisoned in the U.S., it can be a vital lifeline. The deals some phone companies have made with prisons can make it prohibitively expensive for inmates to contact the outside world.

Which is why on Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission voted to take action, voting to cap rates on phone calls in all state and federal prisons.

The three to two vote, with the FCC's Democratic majority in favor of the regulation, is being hailed by progressive groups as an end to a long-overlooked predatory practice -- while Republican commissioners questioned the FCC's authority to impose the new policy.

Currently, phone calls from prison can cost as much as $1 per minute or more, with some families having to pay as much as $17 for a 15-minute phone call to an inmate at local jails, according to the CSMonitor. In its announcement, the FCC cited some call rates "ballooning to $14 per minute" in some cases. Charges to families of inmates can stack up quickly, sometimes reaching thousands of dollars a year, which often forces families to choose between paying for basic necessities or paying those bills.

Advocates say the unfair payment structures result from secretive contracts between prisons and technology companies, like Alabama's Global Tel-Link, which promise commissions amounting to between 30 and more than 90 percent of the profits to local county sheriffs and state corrections agencies. They contend the deals are basically kickbacks for exclusive control over prisoner communications.

The Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell went further, telling the local KTVE news the system is "worse than any payday loan scheme." According to Quartz, Democratic Commissioner Mignon Clyburn called it "untenable, egregious, and unconscionable." 

Local sheriffs, represented by the National Sheriffs Association, argue the commissions help them pay for costs associated with running the phone systems. Emphasizing that phone service is a privilege and not a basic right, the group's CEO Jonathan Thompson told NPR they are considering ending inmate phone calls altogether due to the FCC's move.

But commissioners Clybrun and Jessica Rosenworcel both emphasized that affordable communication between prisoners and their families benefits the criminal justice system on the whole, citing research every prison visit from a family can reduce a person's chance of recidivism by 13 percent, once they're out of jail.

According to the FCC, the new regulations will cap phone rates in jails at $0.14 to $0.22 per minute, depending on the size of the prison.

The regulations will also cap some service charges like bill payment fees, which can add up to 40 percent to the cost of every phone call, while outright banning all other extra charges. It will also ban flat-rate service, which results in charges of more than $1 per minute based on 15-minute intervals, regardless of how long the call actually lasts.

The Latino advocacy group, the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC), hailed the FCC's vote as a "major step in combating the unjust financial burden placed on incarcerated people and their families," in a statement released to Latin Post.

"With uncompetitive pricing often inflating call charges up to $14 per minute, many Americans have been left without the financial resources to stay connected with family members who have been incarcerated," stated NHMC.

Imprisoned Latinos are particularly vulnerable to high fees for keeping in contact with their families. Latinos are incarcerated at nearly twice the rate of Whites, and represent a larger percentage of the prison population than the proportion of Hispanics in the U.S. as a whole, according to the U.S. Census figures cited by the Prison Policy Initiative. At the same time, according to the National Survey of American Families, Latino families are significantly more likely to be low-income than Whites or Blacks, 61 percent compared to 26 percent and 49 percent, respectively.

"The FCC did a great thing in reducing the predatory charges that have prevented so many families from staying connected with their loved ones," said Alex Nogales, CEO of NHMC.

"So many wonderful people have worked for years toward prison phone justice, and we thank the FCC and, in particular, Commissioner Clyburn for her tireless efforts. Today, they helped give a voice to the voiceless."