Free prison calls provide a lifeline for inmates, families

Keeping prison inmates in touch with their families is a key element in reducing recidivism and simply part of a humane incarceration policy — and those goals are certainly not mutually exclusive. It shouldn’t take an academic study to prove the point, although there are any number that do just that. A mother being able to talk to her child or a husband being able to talk to his wife is likely to give that incarcerated parent or spouse a reason to want to get out and stay out of prison.

More than a year ago, the state Supreme Judicial Court ruled in a case involving then-Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson that sheriffs had the right to continue to charge often outrageously high rates for inmate phone calls — rates usually charged back to the inmate’s family. Chief Justice Kimberly Budd, writing for the court, ruled, “Had the Legislature intended to put an end to the sheriff ’s practice of collecting inmate telephone revenues, it could have done so.”

That was last May, and despite a lot of good intentions on the part of some lawmakers, the situation has not changed.

Oh, Hodgson was defeated in the last election and his replacement is no longer gouging inmates and their families for calls. But still, costs at both the county and the state level remain high.

The state Department of Correction charges 12 cents per minute for calls. Most county facilities charge 14 cents per minute (or between $2.40 and $2.80 for a 20-minute call) plus a fee for putting money into a telephone account. Legislative leaders last year estimated the cost to families at some $14 million a year.

Today some 5,419 prisoners are in state custody and another 6,415 are in county facilities — the lion’s share of those are in pre-trial detention, where communication is truly a lifeline for many.

Last year, in the wake of the SJC decision, lawmakers approved a plan for free phone calls in both state and county prisons and set aside $20 million to fund it — to make up for the lost revenue for county facilities in particular. Some sheriffs do indeed use the profits from those costly calls for programming at their facilities. The $20 million appropriation survived, but the actual enabling legislation got hung up when then-Governor Charlie Baker used it as a bargaining chip in an effort to get his bill to change the state’s rules on pre-trial detention approved. Both proposals died in the process.

Governor Maura Healey jump-started the idea again in her budget but limited it to only prisons run by the state Department of Correction and to 1,000 minutes a month per inmate. The House budget extended the free calls to county facilities and removed the time limit. The Senate includes a similar provision but, as so often happens, with some language differences. So presumably if the two branches resolve their differences, including this could be a done deal. But then that’s what everyone thought last year too.

Taking nothing for granted, state Representative Chynah Tyler and state Senator Cynthia Creem have filed their own bills to accomplish the same end, both scheduled for a hearing Tuesday before the Joint Judiciary Committee. Those bills also require the renegotiation of any telecommunications contracts by the state or county sheriffs that “provides for the payment of revenue, financial incentives or commissions” in excess of the actual cost of the service to those using it.

The sad fact is that those who have been paying the cost of keeping in touch with loved ones in prison are largely those who can least afford it. One national survey found that 1 in 3 families of the incarcerated fall into debt to pay for phone calls or prison visits.

That simply shouldn’t be happening — not here and not when the money to remedy the issue has been sitting on the table for a year now.

California already offers free calling to its 90,000 inmates. Connecticut and New York City earlier implemented similar programs.

Keeping those who are incarcerated connected to their families is one of the simplest ways to encourage rehabilitation and, therefore, enhance public safety. This tiny bit of progress is already a year overdue. It shouldn’t have to wait any longer.