What does this rollback mean for families right now?

yeah so to give the background just a little bit um in 2024 the fcc set caps on how much the telecommunications corporations can charge people incarcerated people and their families per minute for phone calls and those caps were meant to be six cents in prisons like you mentioned and 12 cents in very small jails now those caps were never completely implemented and enforced as there was change in administration And the, and the caps themselves were delayed.

And then more recently in October, 2025, as you mentioned, the caps were increased to 11 cents per minute in prisons and 19 cents per minute in what they call extremely small jails caps just finally went into effect in April of this year.

And now are actually have the force of law.

But the difference being, I mean, like, it means that families are exposed to these inflated costs for just connecting with their loved one, right? I mean, what we're talking about is like real basic human connection, being able to get on the phone.

I know you know well, right? Like being able to get on the phone and talk to that family member is a basic human need, right? And the thing is, when we talk about these things and we talk about the difference between 6 cents and 11 cents, that may not sound like that much, to some people, but when you consider the fact that these are calls that are being made every week, every month, every year, it stacks and it stacks and it stacks and it stacks, right? And we think about us on the outside, who we talk to, right? When we talk to our friends, our family members, our siblings, things like that.

I mean, I might be on the phone for an hour and a half with my sibling or something, my brother or something like that, right? That stacks up really quickly.

What's their response? Or what's been their response? How have y'all been engaging?

What does this rollback mean for families right now?

yeah so to give the background just a little bit um in 2024 the fcc set caps on how much the telecommunications corporations can charge people incarcerated people and their families per minute for phone calls and those caps were meant to be six cents in prisons like you mentioned and 12 cents in very small jails now those caps were never completely implemented and enforced as there was change in administration And the, and the caps themselves were delayed.

And then more recently in October, 2025, as you mentioned, the caps were increased to 11 cents per minute in prisons and 19 cents per minute in what they call extremely small jails caps just finally went into effect in April of this year.

And now are actually have the force of law.

But the difference being, I mean, like, it means that families are exposed to these inflated costs for just connecting with their loved one, right? I mean, what we're talking about is like real basic human connection, being able to get on the phone.

I know you know well, right? Like being able to get on the phone and talk to that family member is a basic human need, right? And the thing is, when we talk about these things and we talk about the difference between 6 cents and 11 cents, that may not sound like that much, to some people, but when you consider the fact that these are calls that are being made every week, every month, every year, it stacks and it stacks and it stacks and it stacks, right? And we think about us on the outside, who we talk to, right? When we talk to our friends, our family members, our siblings, things like that.

I mean, I might be on the phone for an hour and a half with my sibling or something, my brother or something like that, right? That stacks up really quickly.

What's their response? Or what's been their response? How have y'all been engaging?

There's

this balancing act, right, of being open-minded and tolerant of others who have different interests, habits, whatever you may want to call things that might annoy someone else.

What advice do you give out to folks or would you give to yourself if you can take a step back and kind of look at yourself, um, both in the past and as you look into the future around tolerance, acceptance, uh, grace, uh, and at the same time, um, being respecting yourself and your space and, um, maintaining some level of maybe protection for yourself.

Do you have a sense of what that right balance might be of being open-minded and tolerant, but at the same time, that's not someone I want to spend time with, or I'm having a hard time respecting them for X, Y, Z. I'm at peace with coming to that conclusion.

That doesn't make me a judgy jerk.

I just don't want to spend time with someone who either makes me feel a certain way or treats others in a way that I don't want to be associated with.

Is there a decision or something in your life that changed the trajectory in a major way?

I think my grandfather has always had a significant, continues to have a significant influence on me, even after many years long past.

Mm-hmm.

And the one, the one specific bit of information he gave us, he s- he turned to the band at one rehearsal and he said, "I know you all are overqualified for this tour.

[laughs] I know you can play your own stuff, and that's why you're here," he said, "but I'm the leader of the band up here, and, uh, your, your job here is to make us the Coral Reefer Band together, not to showcase your own, your own self at this point." I think that's the one thing, Mac, that I remember about him, is that he was so inclusive, but if you show attitude, it's just like, "Dude, don't make yourself, uh, stand alone out there."

[laughs]

... kinda keep that together.

But I learned his way of staying light on his feet, and, uh, he did not expect perfection, as Mac said before, in that sense of this has to be performed perfectly, but he expected you to be present for the people out there and, and for him as a performance.

And, uh, I loved his curiosity.

Uh, that extended to his lyric writing as well.