S.F. inmates will get free phone calls
Plan also calls for no markup on items sold in jail stores
San Francisco Mayor London Breed and Sheriff Vicki Hennessy on Wednesday announced a plan to make all calls from county jails free for inmates and eliminate markups on items sold in jail stores.
By easing some of the financial burdens facing incarcerated people and their families — burdens that disproportionately fall on lowincome women of color — city officials hope to bolster inmates’ ability to transition out of jail successfully. On average, basic items such as hygiene products are marked up by 43% in San Francisco jails.
About 80% of phone calls from jail are paid for by the inmate’s family and friends, primarily low-income women of color, according to an analysis from San Francisco’s Financial Justice Project, an initiative within the treasurer’s office that studies fines and fees paid by the city’s poorest residents. Two 15-minute calls a day cost $300 over 70 days — the average length of a jail stay, according to the city.
“This change is an important continuation of our efforts to reform fines and fees that disproportionately impact low-income people and communities of color,” Breed said in a statement. “When people are in jail they should be able to remain connected to their family without being concerned about how much it will cost them or their loved ones.”
Breed’s office said the initiative will make San Francisco the first county in the nation to eliminate revenue streams generated from incarcerated
people and their families. City officials expect the reforms to be implemented within a year. In the meantime, the Sheriff ’s Department said it would continue to offer free calls to inmates without the money to pay for them.
The issue resonates personally with Breed, whose brother, Napoleon Brown, has served nearly two decades of a 44year prison sentence for involuntary manslaughter and armed robbery.
Breed set aside about $1.7 million in the city’s two-year budget for the Sheriff ’s Department to eliminate the fees charged for phone calls and the sometimes dramatic markups placed on jail commissary merchandise.
Public Defender Manohar Raju applauded the fee-elimination initiative, saying in a statement that “these practices are predatory and disproportionately affect poor people. Reducing the financial burdens of phone fees for incarcerated people will allow them to stay better connected with their loved ones and gives them a better chance going forward after their release.”
The fees and markups — sanctioned by state law — spawned a billion-dollar industry, according to Anne Stuhldreher, director of the Financial Justice Project, one that’s enriched a small clutch of private companies and, to a lesser extent, counties that use the fees to generate revenue for their jail operations. State Sen. Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles, has introduced legislation that would help curb those fees and mandate that they be used for rehabilitative services and for the benefit of inmates.
“I’m really proud that San Francisco is putting people before profits,” she said. “When people can stay in better touch with their families and support networks, it eases their re-entry and it reduces recidivism. And that’s the big cost driver in our criminal justice system — people who get out and cycle right back.”
Kandy “K.I.” Ifopo cycled through county jails in San Francisco between 2008 and 2013 for a smattering of robbery and assault offenses. On the inside, during stretches of time when Ifopo couldn’t afford to call family members, feelings of isolation and anxiety festered, they told The Chronicle. During one stint behind bars, Ifopo was rattled to learn — from an illicit note from another family member locked up nearby — about the death of a cousin.
“It takes a toll. It causes stress, worry, all of that. Having no access to a free phone call reduces the basic skills of socializing. It messes up those skills,” Ifopo said.
“That free phone call is going to spark some people’s hearts. You can call home and laugh or cry for 15 minutes and figure out who’s sick, who’s not sick. You can actually have full access to what’s going on on the outside.”