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Communication

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Phone and video calls

Tablets and electronic messaging

Protecting physical mail

Decades of research show that family contact is critical for the health and reentry outcomes of people in prison and jail. But private telecom companies, in collusion with facilities, have made it harder and harder for families to keep in touch — both by forcing them to pay often exorbitant rates for services, and by instilling policies that cut off communication altogether.

We’re researching the harms of these practices and pushing federal, state and local agencies to change them. Read on for our most important work about prison and jail phone and video calls, e-messaging and tablet services, and protecting postal mail.

 

Phone and video calls

• State of Phone Justice 2022: The problem, the progress, and what's next
  Using data from 50 states and over 3,000 jails and other facilities, we find that the majority of jails are still charging rates that families struggle to pay. Meanwhile, prison telecom companies are peddling a growing array of non-phone services to incarcerated consumers.
• Protecting in-person visits from the predatory "video calling" industry
  We uncover how jails collude with telecom companies to eliminate human contact, by replacing in-person visits with expensive, low-quality video chats.
• Shadow Budgets: How mass incarceration steals from the poor to give to the prison
  Revenues from communication fees flow into "Inmate Welfare Funds" meant to benefit incarcerated populations. However, our analysis reveals that they are used more like slush funds, often forcing society's most vulnerable people to pay for prison operations, staff salaries, benefits, and more.

Other work on phone and video calls:

• Bowing to pressure from jails and companies, FCC raises phone rate caps
  The most up-to-date summary of prison/jail phone and video calling rate caps and regulations handed down by the FCC.
• Research roundup: The positive impacts of family contact for incarcerated people and their families
  Over 50 years of evidence show that visits, phone calls, mail, and other forms of family contact has positive impacts for everyone.
• "Best practices" guides for phone and video calling RFPs
  Guidance for prison and jail procurement officials to getting better contracts that prioritize the lowest cost to the consumer.

See all of our work on this topic on our prison phone justice campaign page and our video calling campaign page.

Tablets and electronic messaging

• SMH: The rapid and unregulated growth of e-messaging in prisons
  A technology that, until recently, was new in prisons and jails has exploded in popularity in recent years. Our review found that, despite its potential to keep incarcerated people and their families connected, e-messaging has quickly become just another way for companies to profit at their expense.

Other work on tablets:

• Tablets are being used to cut off access to books in prisons
  Our 2024 briefing shows which states have tablets in prisons and explains why they are an insufficient replacement for books.
• "Best practices" guide for tablet computer RFPs
  Guidance for prison and jail procurement officials to getting tablet programs that supplement rather than replace in-person services.

See all of our work on this topic on our prison tablet and electronic messaging research page.

Protecting physical mail

• Mail scanning isn't the solution to drug use in prisons — here's why
  Prisons across the country are stripping away physical mail to combat drug smuggling, severing family bonds in the process. But, as we explain in this guide, mail scanning focuses on the wrong part of the problem, failing to prevent overdoses and leaving officials aiming at a constantly shifting target.

Other work on protecting mail:

• WEBINAR: Fighting for families: How advocates are resisting attacks on visitation and physical mail
  Jails and prisons across the country are increasingly restricting family contact. We hosted advocates who have successfully resisted these policies, for a discussion of how families can fight back.
• Both sides of the bars: How mass incarceration punishes families
  About half of people in prison are parents to minors. Mail is one of the most common ways they stay in touch, our briefing shows.
• Our campaign to stop sheriffs from restricting jail mail to postcards
  We explain how many sheriffs have tried to limit jail mail to a postcard format and offer tools for advocates to push back.

See all of our work on this topic on our protecting postal mail campaign page.

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