While federal prisons made calls free and federal legislators pass bills to regulate prison phone calls, Governor Lamont fails to take any action for Connecticut families
WEST HAVEN, CT — Prison phone justice advocates have posted a billboard on Interstate-95 in West Haven, calling on Governor Ned Lamont to stop charging families for phone calls from loved ones in state prisons. Advocates have been pushing the Connecticut state legislature to pass a bill making prison phone calls free since last year. The bill was raised by the Judiciary Committee again this year and scheduled for a hearing, but with the legislative session suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, advocates have now turned their attention to the Governor and his executive action powers. Their billboard reads “Governor Lamont: It should be free to tell your child you love them.”
As prisons become the local epicenters of the COVID-19 outbreak, families are eager to connect with their loved ones behind bars. But with visits suspended, families are now entirely dependent on egregiously priced prion phone calls. Connecticut remains the second most expensive state for prison phone calls, a reality that weighs even more heavily on families as unemployment reaches Great Depression levels.
In fact, while Governor Lamont has failed to provide relief for families with incarcerated loved ones during the current global health crisis, elected officials at the federal level have begun to take action. Empowered by a provision in the first stimulus package, the CARES Act, the federal prison system made all phone calls free last month. And just Friday, in a 208 to 199 vote, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the HEROES Act, a $3 trillion COVID-19 relief package that included the COVID-19 Compassion and Martha Wright Prison Phone Justice Act. The provision would immediately cut prison phone rates by creating a cap of four and five cents per minute and bar government agencies from collecting site commission. If passed as part of the final Senate stimulus bill, the provision would dramatically change the lives of millions of families with incarcerated loved ones.
“The House vote for the HEROES Act marks the most significant step toward prison phone justice in recent history. Connecticut’s own House delegation was a part of the moment, with all five of its Representatives voting yes,” said Bianca Tylek, Executive Director for Worth Rises. “Yet, Governor Lamont has not taken a single action on his part to protect families from predatory prison phone companies. Instead, he has let them capitalize off these families during the pandemic. Prison phone calls must be free, and if there was ever a time to act, it’s now.”
The billboard also follows a joint letter to the National Governors’ Association sent last month by 300 advocacy and faith-based organizations demanding that Governors use their executive powers to stop charging families to communicate with incarcerated loved ones and make prison and jail calls free.