NATIONWIDE — Today, Worth Rises released a national PSA, featuring NBA coach and former player Caron Butler, calling on cities and states across the nation to make prison and jail communication free alongside a game-changing tool that centralizes real-time rate data for the first time. The new data reveals that the prison phone justice movement has forced a 36% decrease in prison call rates since just 2018, when advocates passed the first bill to make calls out of a prison or jail free in New York City.
The first-of-its-kind National Prison & Jail Rate Map provides real-time rate data for all correctional agencies that contract with the nation’s three largest prison telecom vendors: Securus (also known as Aventiv), ViaPath (formerly GTL), and ICSolutions. Together these vendors are responsible for providing telecom services to roughly 9 out 10 incarcerated people across the nation. The data, which advocates and researchers previously pulled manually from vendor sites, covers all 50 state prison systems, 1,026 county jails, and 104 local jails.
“The data released today clearly illustrates the power and efficacy of the prison phone justice movement in reducing or eliminating call rates in recent years. And now, for the first time, advocates, journalists, and decision-makers have access to critical, real-time rate data that can further drive policies that connect and create relief for families. There are now a dozen states considering making all prison and jail calls free. It’s time for a national dialogue about the communication crisis facing families with incarcerated loved ones and the obvious solution: free calls. We are so grateful to Caron Butler and Nate Parker for lending their voices and platforms to this cause,” said Bianca Tylek, Executive Director of Worth Rises.
The PSA, developed in partnership with the Nate Parker Foundation, follows the story of Euriya, a teenage boy whose father is incarcerated, and illustrates the financial burden placed on families trying to stay connected with incarcerated loved ones by the high cost of prison phone calls. It provides a glimpse into the reality of millions of Americans who are forced to use these predatory call services every day. NBA coach and former player Caron Butler closes the PSA with a call to cities and states to make prison and jail communication free.
Caron Butler, NBA coach and former player said, “As someone who has been on both ends of these calls, I know their importance. Hearing a familiar voice — a loving voice — when you’re at your lowest can change the trajectory of not just your day, but your life. Under no circumstance, should the cost of a call prevent families from supporting their loved ones inside when they need it most, and certainly not separate a parent from their child. I was lucky to make it past that moment in my life and to where I am today, everyone should be given that chance. I’m excited to join Worth Rises and the Connecting Families campaign in calling for free prison and jail communication nationwide. The time is now."
"For years, the struggles of families with incarcerated loved ones have gone unnoticed, unheard, and unseen. Working with many cast and crew members who were directly impacted by incarceration, we wanted to lift the veil that obscures these struggles through this PSA. It was a privilege to work with Worth Rises to bring this all-too-common story to light and drive the change necessary," said Nate Parker, film director and founder of the Nate Parker Foundation.