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What Happens When Jails and Prisons Make Phone Calls Free?

Thanks to policy changes in six prison systems and several dozen jail systems, families are talking more and saving money.

Incarcerated people make phone calls in the Little Scandinavia unit at SCI Chester in Pennsylvania on March 9, 2023.

Over the years, Angel Rice got used to making the most of short, efficient phone calls with her husband, who is incarcerated in a California prison. On each side of the prison walls, both were constantly aware that each passing minute drained funds from her prepaid account.

But when the clock struck midnight marking the beginning of 2023, phone calls from California prisons became free. Although each call still terminates after 15 minutes, there are no limits on the number of calls people can place.

“Now we can talk,” Rice told The Nation. “We can have in-depth conversations about finances, about how my day was, how his day was, what’s going on in our communities, with our children… We’re not cramped into [just] 15 minutes, trying to get life in that one moment. Now we have extended time to talk and be present with each other.”

California is one of a growing list of states and municipalities that have made phone calls free, starting with New York City in 2019. Today, calls are free in six prison systems—the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Connecticut, California, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and New York—and several dozen jail systems, affecting more than 330,000 incarcerated people. Nearly all of these reforms came via legislation (New York enacted the change administratively).

Since the policies went into effect, incarcerated people with access to free phones have placed an additional 600 million phone calls, according to a new report from the nonprofit Worth Rises, a leading advocate for free phone calls. Analyzing call data from all six prisons systems and 17 jails, both before and after calls became free, the authors calculated that free calling led to an additional 6.4 billion call minutes. And it wasn’t just a spike: Since increasing, the call minutes remained at the new, higher level.

Altogether, the free minutes have saved these families more than $620 million. The majority of the savings went to Black and brown families: 70 percent of prison savings and 82 percent of jail savings.

Free calling also means Rice’s husband spends more time talking with his mother and his 12-year-old daughter, who is autistic. “He can be on the phone with her to help her with her homework,” she said. “They have their nighttime regimen—they have a call before she goes to bed. And he’s able to chat it up with her, really have that bonding moment.”

“Having these regular conversations allows him to be a part of her upbringing and make sure she has her father there,” she said. “Every time he says, ‘I spoke to my daughter today,’ you can hear it in his voice. You can just hear him light up.”

Research shows what Rice and her family know firsthand: Family contact is crucial for people on both sides of the prison walls. Phone calls are shown to improve relationships, increase self-esteem, and reduce depression and anxiety among incarcerated people. And since visitation can be challenging for a host of reasons, phone calls are often people’s only lifeline to their loved ones.

In interviews conducted as part of the report, incarcerated people told Worth Rises that free calls have helped........

© The Nation