Written by Sakira Cook, Co-Interim Vice President at Color of Change

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Many Americans who face incarceration are forced to choose between calling their families and affording basic necessities, due to the extortionate costs of telephone and video calls from prison.

Monthly calls cost incarcerated individuals as much as $72 a month, however this financial burden is only a fraction of their struggle. Severed ties with family members cause ongoing emotional stress, an increase in anxiety and mental health concerns that often have lasting effects. This inability to afford calls home to loved ones could ultimately cost those facing jail time years of depression and force people to withdraw. With limited meaningful social interaction, many also lose the ability to show love and compassion in healthy ways, and significant relationships often dwindle.

My uncle was incarcerated for many years in Indiana. When I was a little girl, my dad asked me to be my uncle’s pen pal. I didn’t fully understand what this process would look like at first but after sharing letters regularly, we became very close. Not only was becoming his pen pal necessary for helping to keep my uncle connected to his family but ultimately, it was necessary because the costs of regular phone calls were too high for us to afford.

It’s been proven that building or maintaining a support system while incarcerated decreases the likelihood of recidivism, and supports successful reentry. My front row seat to this experience was one of the reasons I decided to pursue a career in law. I became passionate about changing the criminal legal system, so much so that one of the first issues I took on when I started my career nearly a decade ago was prison phone justice.

My story is one of many. For families who want to stay connected there are not many choices. A large number of individuals who are incarcerated are already living in poverty or come from families who are navigating poverty. One in three families with an incarcerated loved one goes into debt trying to maintain contact. And while the average prison salary is roughly $35 a month, once court fees and personal hygiene products are paid for, there’s minimal funds left to maintain meaningful connections with loved ones at all.

Preying on vulnerable families through hiked-up telephone and video calls has generated a $1.4 billion prison telephone and video call industry, with companies like Aventiv Technologies and ViaPath Technologies (formerly GTL) charging families as much as $1 a minute. Prices are set by companies owned by three private equity firms including Platinum Equity Partners, American Securities and HIG Capital. But they aren’t alone. More than 4,000 corporations across industries that do business with prisons are raking in billions of dollars each year. That kind of profiteering hurts Black and low-income families the most.

According to Worth Rises, the most exploitative states are primarily conservative and/or southern states, including Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Oklahoma and Alaska, with costs reaching as high as $2.10 per 15 minutes. And this isn’t just an economic issue, when we see that Black Americans are incarcerated in state prisons at five times the rate of white people — the costs of incarceration are high and take a particular toll on Black individuals, families and communities.

During normal times this price gouging creates a huge financial burden, but the pandemic exacerbated the impact. For the many families in this situation already facing financial hardships, having to pay substantially more for phone calls can make a bad situation even worse. Consider the rise in cost of groceries, gas, and other family essentials — adding in exorbitant phone call fees creates even more stress and sacrifice.

Today, Color of Change is working with the Prison Phone Justice Coalition to advocate for the passage of the Martha Wright Prison Phone Act in Congress, which would restore FCC regulation of the costs of calls incarcerated people make from prisons and jails and place a cap on phone service fees. Martha Wright-Reed was a champion for phone justice and fought for decades to make prison phone calls affordable for incarcerated people. The Senate has moved its bill out of committee, and the House commerce committee has yet to consider the House’s version of the bill.

The Prison Phone Justice Coalition comprises leading organizations like Color Of Change, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the Prison Policy Initiative, Worth Rises and others. We are working with Rep. Rush to fight against corporate telephone and video call companies that are taking advantage of incarcerated and low-income families.

Color Of Change recently launched a petition, which now has more than 7,000 signatures, and ran an ad in the Washington Post encouraging members of Congress to co-sponsor the bill. The organization’s members have also made nearly 700 phone calls to members of the Congressional Progressive and Congressional Black Caucus as well as the House Energy & Commerce Committee.

If passed, the bill would restore the FCC’s regulation of the cost of all calls incarcerated people make from prisons and jails, and place a cap on phone services at four cents per minute for debit prepaid calling, and five cents per minute for collect calling. This type of price drop would make a dramatic difference in the lives of families who have a loved one who’s incarcerated.

Tell your representative to support the Martha Wright Prison Phone Justice Act and co-sponsor the legislation. Your voice is crucial in the fight to keep families connected.

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