NATIONWIDE — Today, 373 advocacy organizations, foundations, and faith-based groups delivered an urgent letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, calling on Congress to enact prison phone justice by including the prison phone justice in the next relief bill expected at the end of September.
“We are in the throes of an unprecedented pandemic, and families with incarcerated loved ones are being forced to choose between talking to their loved one and putting food on the table more than ever. Families shouldn’t have to struggle like this while predatory corporations fleece them with ridiculous call rates,” said Bianca Tylek, Executive Director of Worth Rises. “We are looking to the Senate to finish what the House started — we need prison phone justice in the next stimulus bill. Families simply can’t wait any longer.”
As prisons and jails have become epicenters of COVID-19, state officials and administrators have subjected incarcerated people to inexcusable neglect. This inaction has allowed existing crises of inaccessible hygiene, inadequate healthcare, substandard nutrition, and a general lack of care to manifest with a devastating human cost. More than ever, calls constitute a critical lifeline between incarcerated people and their loved ones.
During these unprecedented times, prison telecom corporations and their correctional partners continue to charge families with incarcerated loved ones egregious rates for phone calls, video calls, and emails. While the cost of staying in touch has always been a burden, families with incarcerated loved ones — which are more likely to face joblessness, houselessness, and new economic stressors during this pandemic — are now finding them simply insurmountable. Families now face bleak and impossible choices between checking on the health of an incarcerated spouse or feeding the children in their care.
In today’s letter, advocates demand that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer take immediate action to include prison phone justice in the Senate’s next stimulus bill. The letter comes on the heels of the delivery of an associated public petition that has accumulated more than 80,000 signatures from people across the country.
Cheryl A. Leanza, of the United Church of Christ’s media justice ministry, OC Inc., said, “The momentum is growing again for justice in incarcerated communications. The community rose up in 2012 and 2015 to persuade the federal government to provide people calling incarcerated loved ones the same regulatory safeguards as all other consumers. The phone companies won a temporary reprieve, and they have continued to abuse people at the most vulnerable point in their lives. The Christian tradition teaches us that incarcerated people are worthy of dignity and respect in every way — whether it is the right to fair treatment inside, support reintegrating into society or the ability to speak to a child without sacrificing economic security. The time for Congress to act is now.”
“COVID-19 relief for Black and brown families and their incarcerated loved ones can’t wait. This global pandemic has laid bare the exploitation families in our marginalized communities face simply because they want to communicate with their incarcerated loved ones. While communities across the country struggle to keep food on the table and roofs over their heads, incarcerated people and their families endure the additional trauma of budgeting for exorbitant phone call costs. For too many, this is a choice between remaining in touch with their incarcerated family members during a pandemic and making rent or paying for medicine. We’re calling on leaders in the Senate to end this exploitation immediately by prioritizing prison phone justice in the next stimulus bill,” said Myaisha Hayes, Campaign Strategies Director at MediaJustice.
“The Martha Wright Prison Phone Justice Act is not only a lifeline for thousands of incarcerated individuals and their loved ones; it’s the action we need to rein in corporate greed,” said Scott Roberts, Senior Director of Criminal Justice Campaigns at Color Of Change. “Six months into the COVID-19 crisis, prison telecommunications companies are continuing to exploit these families, who are overwhelmingly Black and cash-poor, with astronomical rates for phone calls. Right now, at a time when keeping families connected is more important than ever, the Senate must follow the House’s lead and pass this measure for phone justice immediately.”
“Before phone calls, studies for years showed that visits resulted in a substantial reduction in recidivism. Phone calls would do the same,” said Charles Sullivan, President of International CURE.
Background: In May, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Martha Wright Prison Phone Justice Act, introduced by U.S. Representative Bobby Rush, as part of the HEROES Act COVID-19 relief package. The bill would give the FCC the power to regulate instate rates for prison and jail calls, which it was barred from regulating without further Congressional action by the courts in recent years. The bill would also institute interim rate caps of $0.04 (prepaid) and $0.05 (collect calls) per minute. U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth also introduced and championed analogue in the Senate. Advocates continue to push Senate leadership to include the bill language passed by the House in the upcoming Senate relief bill.