(The Center Square) — New York has become the latest Democratic-led state to authorize free phone calls for inmates in state prisons and correctional facilities with a policy change touted by state officials to improve conditions in the facilities.
The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision announced Tuesday that beginning Aug. 1, all phone calls, video chats, and emails from New York prisons will be free of charge for incarcerated individuals and their families. Currently, New York offers inmates three 15-minute free phone calls a week but charges them additional calls at 2.4 cents a minute after that.
The agency said the new policy, which is funded through its operating budget, “eliminates financial barriers to communication and aims to strengthen the vital connections between incarcerated individuals and their loved ones.”
“We recognize the critical role that strong family bonds play in an individual’s rehabilitation and long-term success after incarceration,” Corrections Commissioner Daniel F. Martuscello III said in a statement. “Understanding the value of family ties while in prison is crucial — not only for emotional support, but for improving an individual’s outcomes while incarcerated and when returning to society, thus reducing recidivism.”
The Hochul administration said the state has reached an agreement with telecom provider Securus Technologies to pay 1.5 cents per minute — among the lowest rates in the country — and expects to spend about $9 million this fiscal year to cover costs.
“This is a huge win for children and families,” Allison Hollihan, director of the New York Initiative for Children of Incarcerated Parents & Connecting Families Campaign, said in a statement. “They will now be able to regularly speak with incarcerated loved ones and feel connected even while far apart. Children can celebrate milestones, share daily updates, say good morning and goodnight, and hear their parents’ voices without the financial burden of paying for calls.”
The move means New York will join a handful of Democratic-led states, including Massachusetts, Connecticut and California, that have shifted the cost of prison calls from inmates and their families to the taxpayers.
In Massachusetts, state lawmakers approved a plan several years ago allowing “unlimited” free calls, videos or emails for inmates at state prisons and correctional facilities following a court challenge alleging that inmates were being overcharged. But county sheriffs who operate jails have complained that the state government hasn’t provided enough funding to cover the costs of providing free calls for about 12,000 prisoners.
But New York lawmakers praised the move, saying the changes will help keep inmates connected to family and loved ones while improving outcomes for inmates when they are released back into the community.
“No one should be profiting off a child’s phone call to their parent, or a family’s effort to stay connected through hard times,” state Assemblyman Harvey Epstein said in a statement. “By making prison phone calls free, New York is standing up for basic dignity and helping to strengthen the bonds that make successful reentry possible. This is a commonsense, compassionate policy — and long overdue.”
