Prison communication is getting more expensive

I was in prison on my daughter’s eighth birthday. While it wasn’t the first of her birthdays I spent behind bars, it was the first for which I had no money to call her. I felt terrible. I didn’t know how to make it up to her. I didn’t want her to get used to my absence or to think this was normal. I had seen it happen over and over to the men around me: active and willing fathers who lost their babies because of the cost of a call.

I have been out of prison for over two years, and now serve as one of two co-directors at the Connecticut Bail Fund, where we build power among those in our community impacted by incarceration and deportation.

Today, there is a new predatory scheme unfolding in our prisons: the “free” tablet. After piloting the program in MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution, the state recently announced that it was rolling out tablets to the entire incarcerated population. The introduction of technology in our prisons is long past due, but not like this. See, these tablets are not free. For every electronic message, eCard, audiobook, families pay.

The contract is a profit-sharing agreement between the state and private vendor JPay expected to generate $3.5 million off families by 2024. The state will collect commissions on many of the tablet products and services that range from 10 to 50 percent.

This might sound familiar. For nearly two years, advocates have been bringing attention to the egregious cost of prison calls in Connecticut, which ranks last nationally in affordability with a 15-minute call running up to $4.87. Each year, Connecticut residents spend nearly $14 million to speak to incarcerated loved ones, roughly $8 million of which goes to the state.

The remaining almost $6 million goes to Securus, the state’s prison telecom vendor, and JPay’s parent company. That’s right, amid a fight over prison calls, the state signed a second predatory contract with the same corporation to further exploit families with incarcerated loved ones. But what can we expect when the state has its hand in the cookie jar?

The Department of Administration Services, which is responsible for the contracts, has refused to renegotiate rates without legislative intervention, claiming that doing so would impact the state budget. Yet it has just created a new revenue line in the state budget off the backs of the most disenfranchised among us. I’m not even talking about those who are incarcerated, but their families who are disproportionately Black, brown and low-income, struggling most through this pandemic, and paying these outrageous costs to stay connected.

This comes at a time when Connecticut is operating with a budget surplus. So, not only do we not need the money, but we are taking it from those who do not have it to give. These families were already choosing which bills they could afford before COVID. That was my family, but as difficult as it was for me, the pandemic has made things worse.

Today, these families are disproportionately burdened by the economic fallout of the pandemic: unexpected child care, job loss and evictions. For many months, prisons faced higher infection rates and suspended visits. Parents inside need to comfort their kids, support them through remote learning and confirm negative COVID tests. But often they can’t — because they can’t afford to pay Securus, and JPay, and their private equity owner Platinum Equity, and the state.

This legislative session, the Connecticut Connecting Families coalition, which the Connecticut Bail Fund is a member of, is again asking lawmakers to correct this travesty and repair the harm by passing Senate Bill 520, sponsored by Senate President Martin Looney, that would prohibit charging incarcerated people and their families for communication.

First introduced in 2019, the bill made it all the way to the House floor, but was tabled with a commitment from Democratic leadership to take it up in 2020. Unfortunately, the 2020 legislative session was a wash. But we are back, and we are not taking crumbs like the $1 million Gov. Ned Lamont allocated in his budget this year to slightly reduce the cost of calls. It’s a slap in the face to families for whom “affordable” has no meaning. It’s time our electeds create real relief for all Connecticut families and stop preying on us.

Until this bill passes, we at the Connecticut Bail Fund will recognize the critical need for people in prison to connect with their loved ones on the outside and continue to put money on their phone accounts — for as long as we can afford to.