Prison Phone Justice

April 23, 2020
National Sheriffs’ Association
1450 Duke Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
Dear Sheriff Daron Hall and all other Sheriffs,
The COVID-19 outbreak has overwhelmed many public systems, and the correctional
system is no different. Prisons and jails are breeding grounds for infection as people are
crowded into tight quarters and forced to share cells, and showers, making social
distancing impossible and allowing disease to spread rapidly. To make matters worse,
many incarcerated people are now also facing isolation from their families thanks to the
high rates charged by prison telecom corporations for phone calls, video calls, and
emails.
These conditions put not just incarcerated people at grave risk of COVID-19 infection,
but also the correctional officers and staff entrusted with their care who go home to their
families every day. Correctional health is public health, and the only solution to curb the
rapid spread of COVID-19 is to depopulate prisons and jails by releasing people,
especially those who are elderly, immuno-compromised, have less than a year left on
their sentences, or held pretrial on charges that do not involve allegations of serious and
intentional physical harm.
For those left behind, communication is among their most important needs, now more
than ever, especially as prison and jail visits are suspended. Beyond the grave risk of
infection, incarcerated people are now also facing isolation from their families, which is
exacerbated by the predatory rates prison telecom corporations charge for phone calls,
video calls, and emails. The COVID-19 outbreak is highlighting the tragic reality that
incarcerated people and their families have been living with for decades: the inability to
afford communication.

Even under normal conditions, families struggle to stay connected with incarcerated
loved ones. Prison telecom corporations charge families up to $25 for a 15-minute call, 1
forcing families to decide whether to pay for rent or a call with a loved one behind bars.
In fact, nearly one third of families with incarcerated loved ones goes into debt trying to
stay connected, and 87% of those carrying the burden of these costs are women, largely
women of color. 2
However, things are anything but normal today, and these families, like millions of
others, are struggling to stay afloat during this crisis. They are dealing with delayed pay,
job loss, unexpected elder and childcare, and, in the worst cases, their own illness. They
should not also be worried about whether they can afford to be in contact with
incarcerated loved ones at this critical time. Moreover, continuing to charge for
communication from prisons and jails will lead to serious consequences for public health.
Families who are unable to pay for calls will suffer from stress and despair, which have
been shown to weaken immune systems and make people more likely to succumb to
infection.
We must address this emergency by providing incarcerated people and their families free
access to communication immediately. Doing so will not only alleviate the unjust
financial burden placed on these families and prevent worsening health conditions, but
also benefit our community in the long-run by allowing incarcerated people to strengthen
relationships with their support networks.
More specifically, we ask that you use your executive powers to prohibit correctional
administrators and their telecom vendors from charging families or their incarcerated
loved ones for phone calls, video calls, and emails during the COVID-19 pandemic. We
understand that some prison telecom vendors are offering families one or two phone calls
each week in response to the public health crisis, but this is far from enough and insulting
to tight-knit families.
Families cannot be expected to ration their calls at a time like this. In fact, in the past few
weeks more than 550 telecom corporations have signed the Keep Americans Connected
Pledge established by the Federal Communications Commission to ensure no U.S.
resident has their communication service terminated due to their inability to pay caused
by the COVID-19 pandemic. 3 Notably missing from the signatories are the prison
telecom corporations.

1

State of Phone Justice, Prison Policy Initiative (2019), available at
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/phones/state_of_phone_justice.html.
2
Who Pays? The True Cost of Incarceration on Families, Ella Baker Center, Forward Together, Research
Action Design (2015), available at https://ellabakercenter.org/who-pays-the-true-cost-of-incarceration-onfamilies.
3
Keep Americans Connected, Federal Communications Commission (2020), available at
https://www.fcc.gov/keep-americans-connected.

Bringing in more than a billion dollars in revenue together each year, prison telecom
vendors can afford to provide families and their incarcerated loved ones with free
communication for months at the very least. We implore you to demand they do so. If
necessary, we ask that you use emergency funding to gap stop losses in commissions to
government agencies during the crisis. And finally, once we have made it passed the
COVID-19 pandemic, we ask that you take executive action and support legislation to
provide free communication for the long-term.
In light of the COVID-19 outbreak, the high cost of prison and jail communication that
separates families can no longer be ignored. You must act now to protect families with
incarcerated loved ones. The cost of a call should never bar someone from ensuring their
loved one is healthy, or worse yet, from comforting them if they are not.
Sincerely,
Andrea James
Executive Director,
National Council of Incarcerated and
Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls

Dorsey Nunn
Executive Director,
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children

Kevin Ring
President,
Families Against Mandatory Minimums

Gina Clayton-Johnson
Executive Director,
Essie Justice Group

Ebony Underwood
Chief Executive Officer,
WE GOT US NOW
Bianca Tylek
Executive Director,
Worth Rises

Rashad Robinson
President,
Color of Change

The undersigned join us in this call for action.

NATIONAL
A Little Piece Of Light
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American Federation of Teachers
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LA Voice
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FLORIDA
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Unitarian Universalist Prison Ministry of Illinois
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MICHIGAN
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NEW MEXICO
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NEW YORK
Gustavo Rivera, State Senator, District 33
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Harvey Epstein, Assemblymember, District 74
Inez E. Dickens, Assemblymember, District 70
Jo Anne Simon, Assemblymember, District 52
Nily Rozic, Assemblymember, District 25
Jumaane D. Williams, New York City Public Advocate
Keith Powers, New York City Councilmember, District 4
Jason Starr, Former Assistant Counsel to Governor Cuomo
A Challenge To Change
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Children's Defense Fund-NY
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Carceral Tech Resistance Network
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RHODE ISLAND
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WEST VIRGINIA
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WISCONSIN
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WYOMING
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