Mass. Might Soon Make Calls Free for Incarcerated People

Massachusetts advocates are optimistic about making jail and prison calls free in this year’s state budget, they said in interviews this week. Legislators, who are a month late passing the budget, heard testimony on a stand-alone no-cost calls bill at a Joint Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday. If lawmakers can quickly finish the job, call costs will be “one less thing I have to worry about,” said Joanna Levesque, an advocate whose partner is incarcerated in Massachusetts.

The budget proposal now in conference committee would make phone and video calls free in all state prisons, county jails and houses of correction throughout the commonwealth. Jesse White, Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts policy director, said she’s “very optimistic” no-cost calls will be included in the final budget. But advocates for no-cost are lobbying the committee to ensure there's clear final language ensuring calls become free quickly and preventing correctional facilities from diminishing telephone access, she said.

White said there’s a concern that once calls are free, people who previously were unable to afford calls will increase demand on the system, and facilities will respond by limiting access including by capping minutes allowed on phones. So, legislators are considering language requiring facilities to provide sufficient infrastructure to make sure people have the same amount of access they had before, she said. “The response shouldn’t be to start capping people’s phone access but should be to make sure there are enough phones to meet that demand.”

Meanwhile, stand-alone no-cost calls bills are moving along the legislative process. The Judiciary Committee is considering the House’s H-1796, and the Joint Public Safety Committee is expected to consider the Senate’s S-1494 later. “The way we’re looking at it is the hearing provides an opportunity for folks to vocalize their support and their appreciation” for including the proposal in the budget and to raise their concerns about possibly diminished access, said White: The budget is due at the end of this month, so the measure could pass “any day now.”

It could take another month to pass the budget, said Rachel Roth, a member of the Keeping Families Connected Coalition. State legislators previously passed a temporary extension and Roth expects them to pass another month-long temporary budget soon, she emailed. “Both the House and the Senate included no cost calls in their respective budgets, so it would be highly unusual for it to be removed from the budget. The unknown is what the final language will look like as the two branches had some differences in their provisions.” Passing the measure through the budget would be quicker than passing a stand-alone bill, said Roth: The legislature’s formal session ends July 31, 2024.

“The coalition's greatest concern, expressed repeatedly by directly affected members and other directly affected people, is that [incarcerated people] have the same level of access to communication as they have now,” said Roth: They should “have at least the same number of hours each day to make calls or have video visits.” Also, the coalition wants all communication services to be provided at no cost immediately, rather than delay some types for another year, she said.

Massachusetts couldn’t pass no-cost calls in last year’s budget due to disagreement between the legislature and then-Gov. Charlie Baker (R) over an unrelated detention issue (see 2208030056). "It was so frustrating,” said Levesque, a public school behavioral assistant for special education who planned to testify virtually at Wednesday’s legislative hearing. "The sooner it happens, the more money I can save” for car payments, medical expenses and giving her incarcerated partner stronger financial footing when he gets out in three years, she said. More social interaction has mental health benefits and reduces recidivism, she added.

Levesque estimates she spent $1,500 over the past three years on calls, video visits and emails with her partner. It costs $2 for 20 minutes and sometimes they can’t talk that long because they run out of money, she said, noting Securus assesses a $3 fee for adding funds. A 20-minute video call currently costs $5.33 including tax. If those become free, Levesque said she expects she and her partner will do more video visits, reducing her driving costs for going in-person.

Massachusetts sheriffs “share the priority of keeping incarcerated individuals connected to their outside support systems, family members, and friends, while balancing the security measures that must remain in place to protect all who reside and work within the facilities and ensuring” there's alternative revenue for programming that was previously paid for with phone revenue, a Massachusetts Sheriffs Association spokesperson emailed. MSA’s president, Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi, said if Massachusetts and taxpayers “are willing to cover the cost for free phone calls while also fully funding these vital programs being run by Sheriff’s Offices across the state, we are on board.” The MSA spokesperson noted state sheriffs agreed in August 2021 to provide at least 10 minutes of free phone calls weekly to incarcerated people and a self-imposed cap of 14 cents per minute.

If the state "chooses a new funding model, we will work with them to implement service in the facilities we serve," said a spokesperson for Securus parent Aventiv. The prison phone company provides "multiple funding options, including zero-commission and taxpayer funded models," the representative said.

“A lot of people don’t get visits, so their only means of communication is through the phone,” William Ragland told Judiciary Committee members Tuesday. The state prisoner appeared at the hearing by videoconference from Massachusetts Correctional Institution-Norfolk. Earning a dollar an hour while incarcerated, said Ragland, “you have to choose between eating or putting money on the phone.”