Additional States Weigh Free Prison Communications

A Louisiana House panel planned to weigh a bill (HB-705) Thursday making telecom services, including audio and video communications, free for incarcerated persons. However, with the meeting running long, sponsor Rep. Edmond Jordan (D) voluntarily deferred the bill, allowing for it to be rescheduled by the committee chair. New York state is also weighing free prison calls (see 2403280005). Maryland last month considered but didn’t approve a similar measure (see 2403070044). Prison calls are free in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Minnesota.

“This can free our families from the burden of really exploitative corporate practices,” said the Minnesota bill’s sponsor, Sen. Clare Oumou Verbeten (D), at the livestreamed meeting Wednesday. Worth Rises and other advocates for incarcerated people supported expanding the state’s free-calls law through SF-4387. The Judiciary Committee forwarded the bill to the Human Service Committee, but it could return to Judiciary after it receives a fiscal note, said Chair Ron Latz (D).

But Minnesota Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell warned that implementation of last year’s law was more expensive than expected, and it’s difficult to say how expanding the policy would affect costs. "Implementation of free phone calls has been a complex but very worthwhile endeavor,” said Schnell, who agreed with advocates that the policy reduces recidivism and improves safety at correctional facilities. “We're committed to the shared priority of opening lines of communication between the incarcerated population and their families … We only ask that the cost of expansion be funded to avoid a budget deficit for the department.”

Free calls have proved more popular than expected since the state implemented the policy last July, Schnell added. The legislature appropriated $3.1 million yearly but based on call volume of about 7 million minutes monthly, costs are likely to exceed $3.6 million annually, he said. However, Schnell said that’s only the price under the department’s current contract, which can be renegotiated after it expires this June. "We know that the costs will be lower," but not how much lower, or how the new system will work, the commissioner said. Also, the process of signing a new contract could take 12-18 months and carries legal risks, he said.

Free calls have increased costs for additional reasons, Schnell said. "We have had fights break out ... related to phone use issues, and we've had to apply staff to address these security concerns, pulling staff from various other areas,” he said. And the department has had to devote resources to monitoring calls for criminal activity, he said. "This is not a new thing, but it is something that has notably increased." Oumou Verbeten said she’s confident that Minnesota can get better rates, based on what other states are paying.

Minnesota’s law wouldn’t mandate free calls at local jails if SF-4387 is enacted. Local jails depend on revenue from calls to fund certain services, Minnesota Sheriffs’ Association Executive Director James Stuart said. However, the committee chair signaled that sheriffs shouldn’t get too comfortable.

“Since you brought that up,” said Latz to Stuart, “in my judgment, the inmates should not be paying for their own mattresses and televisions. And if it were me just waving a magic wand right now, I'd give them all free access to telephones in all facilities in Minnesota ... and make the counties pay for the actual costs of incarcerating the offenders that they decide to send to jail.”