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It’s 2021. People incarcerated in prisons and jails should be allowed to have cell phones, and that should not be a controversial position! Small thread on why this would be an important and positive policy shift:
Let’s start with an uncontroversial subject: kids! There are ~ 2.5 million kids with a parent in prison or jail, and they deserve to be able to maintain a loving relationship with that parent. Having the ability to be in touch easily (and for less money) is so important.
It’s not just important for kids. Incarceration is an isolating & disorienting experience that tries to sever ties between a person & their community/support system. All the data (& common sense) shows relationships maintained during incarceration means less risk of re-arrest
If you are someone who advocates for incarceration being a torturous experience with few to no lifelines to the outside & no joy, know that stance is not only harmful to the individual but to entire communities. If you care about recidivism, you’ll need to revise that stance!
It's established that research shows incarcerated people who maintain supportive relationships with loved ones have better outcomes – such as stable housing & employment – when they return to community. You might say that access to prison phones is enough. Here’s why it’s not:
MONEY. Private prison/jail telecomms companies are experts at transferring the cost of incarceration onto individuals & families. Prices vary wildly, but paying as much as $1 a minute for a call is not unheard of. BTW, in GA (& other states), prison laborers get paid $0 an hour.
Also, contact is obviously limited with prison phones. Scheduled and infrequent calls are just not going to provide the same level of relationship building/maintaining that access to a personal cell phone allows.
Cell phones also provide some small slice of transparency when it comes to the horrors of incarceration in the US. There is a reason that prison administrators don’t want you to see videos of moldy walls and backed up toilets and prison “food” and CO violence and on and on.
It's not like people in prisons and jails don't have cellphones now. Many do! But since they are contraband, possessing one can land you in a lot of trouble. So this 1. already happens, 2. reduces recidivism, 3. increases transparency, 4. strengthens bonds, 5. saves $
This is getting more attention than I thought so I'll just add that, in case you didn't glean it from the thread, incarceration is a bad policy -- ineffective, cruel, bad for everyone involved, doesn't really hold people accountable for harm.
