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Connecticut became the first state this week to make all prison phone calls free, addressing one of the biggest emotional and financial burdens faced by incarcerated men and women and their families as they try to stay in touch.
The state has a prison contract with phone vendor Securus Technologies, which charges up to $5 for a 15-minute call. Those are some of the highest phone rates in the country.
The bill was signed into law by Gov. Ned Lamont on Wednesday and could go into effect as early as next month, supporters said Friday. It allows incarcerated men, women and juveniles a minimum of 90 minutes a day of free calls.
“We’re on the right side of history,” said Democratic Rep. Josh Elliott, one of the supporters of the legislation. “Corporations can no longer be allowed to exploit the love between incarcerated people and their families — not in our state, not on our watch.”
I understand that incarcereted people are in prison to be punished, and that they’re not supposed to be too comfortable, but charging fees for phone calls is only hurting the peoples’ families and friends, since they’re the ones who are actually paying the bills. The state shouldn’t be allowed to profit off the peoples’ families’ need to communicate.
Let's goooo. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 Incarcerated folks should never be disconnected from their loved ones, so this is a good step!
It's about damn time
A friend of mines kid called him everyday from juvy. It was $5/minute, he was in CA my friend in FL, and you don't know price until you get the bill. His bill was $500 that month!!!
This is way over due. In todays connected world In think they give prisoners access to cellphones.