Table of Contents
COVID Froze Prison Visits, Spotlighting High Cost of Phone Calls
A person makes a call from a jail in New York City, which in 2019 became the first major U.S. city to offer free phone calls for incarcerated people. More states and localities are considering reducing or eliminating the cost of calls in prisons and jails.
Julie Jacobson
The Associated Press
Before the coronavirus pandemic, Judi Jennings regularly led arts and crafts events in the visitors lobby at the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections in Kentucky.
It wasn’t until in-person visits were suspended last year that Jennings realized how much it costs for people in jail to talk to those outside: around $5 for a 15-minute call to some local landlines, $9.99 for a 15-minute call to a cellphone.
Massachusetts
United-states
Maine
New-york
Hampden
Louisville
Kentucky
Hampden-county
Oakland
California
San-diego
San-diego-county