Newsom urged to sign bill for free inmate calls at San Bruno event

“The fact is, most people are going to get out and we want them to be connected with their loved ones, we want to maintain these bonds. So, when they get out they have that support network and they are less likely to go back into our prisons, go back into our jails,” Becker said.

In 2020, San Francisco was the first county in California to ensure incarcerated people had access to free phone calls in jails. Before San Francisco launched free calls, a 15-minute phone call would cost an inmate $4, Carter said.

“No one should be forced to choose between covering phone costs and providing food for their families or paying bills,” Carter said.

Since San Francisco rolled out its free phone call program they saw a 41% increase in phone calls and 81% more time communicating with their families then they did before the calls were free, Carter said.

“A phone call can be a lifeline, a literal lifeline,” Carter said. “When people are incarcerated it is a stressful time, being cutoff from family or our support system can have devastating effects down the line, that’s why having free phone calls in jails is so important.”

Worth Rises, a nonprofit working to dismantle the prison industry, estimates the prison telecom industry costs California families $68.2 million annually. One in 3 families fall into debt trying to remain in contact with loved ones, 87% of the burden falls on women, particularly women of color, according to the senator’s office.

California has the most inmates serving life sentences in the country; three times the amount of life sentences than Texas, even though Texas is 25% larger, Becker said.

As of August 2022, there are 25,381 inmates serving life sentences in California, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Office of Research.

Phone call fees only serve the for-profit prison telecommunication industry, Becker said.

An industry worth $1.4 billion nationwide from the connection costs, administration fees and other related fees paid for by the incarcerated and their families, according to the senator’s office.

Paul Bocanegra, co-founder of ReEvolution, said he chose to work on the bill because of the trauma phone call fees from prison had on his family while he was incarcerated for 25 years.

“It was not rehabilitative and really provided a punishment model to the families of those incarcerated,” Bocanegra said.

His parents died while he was incarcerated and, by the time his mother died, he had not used the phone for over a decade while serving his sentence in Pelican Bay State Prison. That gave his family unnecessary stress and anxiety, leaving his family wondering if he was still alive while not having any means of contact, he said.

“What a phone call also provides is support, emotional support and the ability to remain connected while being rehabilitated by the system that is holding them accountable for their actions in the community,” Bocanegra said.

SB 1008 now awaits final action by the Newsom who has until Sept. 30 to approve or veto the bill, according to the senator’s office.

nick@smdaiyjournal.com

(650)522-3400 ext. 105