By including the free calls provision, Congress brought immediate relief and comfort to families stressed about the safety of their loved ones and forced to pay $3.15 for a 15-minute call
NEW YORK, NY – On Thursday, prison phone justice advocates applauded Congress for including a provision in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The provision authorized the Department of Justice to make phone calls free for people incarcerated in federal prison and their families after a finding that emergency conditions existed. It took effect on Wednesday night after the Department of Justice declared last week that the COVID-19 pandemic was materially impacting the operations of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
This provision is particularly important as COVID-19 rampages through federal prisons and other correctional facilities across the country. While releasing incarcerated people remains most important given the impossibility of social distancing in correctional facilities, ensuring those left behind can connect with their support systems by making phone and video calls free is remarkably important. In a time when prisons and jails have often resorted to almost-perpetual lockdown, the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Prisons must take steps to ensure that the spirit of this provision and resulting policy, which was to increase access to communication, is not frustrated by limited access to phones or video kiosks.
We also urge every state, county, and city to follow Congress’ lead and make calls free in state prisons and local jails.
While significant, this action is only a temporary solution to a longstanding problem: the cost of communication. Even before the pandemic, families struggled to stay connected because of the cost of calls. The COVID-19 crisis has only exacerbated the issue, as families struggle to stay afloat amidst job loss, unexpected elder and childcare, and in some cases, their own illnesses. However, not only will these concerns persist well after the curve flattens and life begins to return to normal, but families go through personal crises every day and cannot be forced to bear this financial burden again. Congress must ensure that families can permanently stay connected through free communication.
Bianca Tylek, Executive Director of Worth Rises, said “By providing free phone and video calls to people in federal prison, Congress took a meaningful step to mitigate the added stress families with incarcerated loved ones are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic—but there’s more to do. For decades, the cost of communication has been a critical issue in prisons and jails across our country that has tormented families in times of personal crises. Congress must ensure that the solutions introduced today persist in the long-term to end this injustice once and for all, and pass legislation that expands this relief beyond just the federal system into all of the nation’s prisons and jails.”
Kevin Ring, President of FAMM, said, “Policymakers should do everything they can to help families stay close to their incarcerated loved ones. At a time when in-person visits are not possible, and the anxiety of families is sky high, phone calls become even more critical. Congress deserves credit for making calls free during this emergency. I hope members will see that more and cheaper communications options should be the norm, and not reserved for national emergencies.”
Ariel Nelson, Staff Attorney at the National Consumer Law Center, said: “Providing free calls to individuals in federal prisons throughout the COVID-19 crisis is an important first step, but the cost of a call should never prevent families from speaking to their incarcerated loved ones. Before the crisis, one-third of families with incarcerated loved ones went into debt trying to stay connected. Widespread job loss and economic hardship caused by the crisis will make staying connected even more difficult for the foreseeable future, and Congress and states should act now to end predatory prison phone pricing for good by ensuring access to phone calls without charge.”
Steven Renderos, Executive Director at MediaJustice, said “By making phone calls free from federal prisons, Congress is ensuring that in this moment of crisis families can stay connected. That is the kind of leadership that an unprecedented moment in history requires, and the question is who else will follow? Millions of families still face a financial barrier in accepting phone calls from their incarcerated loved ones. It is not just and humane to accept this reality and we look towards other leaders at the FCC and within state and local governments to follow the path set by Congress.”
Scott Roberts, Senior Director of Criminal Justice Campaigns of Color Of Change, said: “By eliminating costs for phone calls and video calls in Federal prisons, Congress is giving much-needed relief to Black families with incarcerated loved ones across the country during this global crisis. For too long our elected officials have allowed predatory prison telecom corporations to price gouge vulnerable families. Unfortunately, this disgraceful exploitation continues for the vast majority of incarcerated people who are held in state prisons and local jails and their loved ones. While this temporary reprieve is a major win, we must continue to stand up for families and make phone calls free everywhere even beyond this crisis.
“The COVID-19 pandemic, has only exacerbated our connection to our parents. Children with parents in federal prisons already have difficulty in remaining connected to our parents, due to the proximity of federal prisons and the cost to travel. Implementing free phone calls would be extremely beneficial to maintaining family bonds during this stressful time. Phone calls are our lifeline to our parents behind bars,” said Ebony Underwood, Chief Executive Officer at We Got Us Now.
“For communities that have been most harmed by government retrenchment and the over-policing and mass criminalization that followed, COVID-19 has only exacerbated existing inequality. It is these communities that will surely bear the brunt of the economic and human crisis that now impacts us all. The capacity to connect with incarcerated loved ones should not be determined by access to cash, not now, and not ever. This must be the first of many steps to ensure that communication with incarcerated family is always free,” said Megan French-Marcelin, WORKINGfuture Campaign Coordinator, JustLeadershipUSA
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Worth Rises is a national advocacy organization dedicated to dismantling the prison industry and eliminating the exploitation of those it touches.