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Father's Day is a good day to remind people that all phone calls and video calls for incarcerated people should be free in every prison and jail across the country. Not just during a pandemic, not just during holidays, not as a special privilege. But for everyone, all year round.
In my conversations with a lot of incarcerated men, Father's Day can be talked about as one of the hardest days of the year. Today, I'm thinking of the millions of incarcerated ppl who haven't been able to see their families for months bc of covid and how difficult today must be.
Visits from family members are often one of the only things that keep people going while incarcerated. It is something that sustains people and something folks look forward to for days, weeks, and months. But when those visits aren't possible, phone & video calls are essential.
Maintaining strong ties w/ loved ones while incarcerated is one of the most effective ways of reducing recidivism after ppl are released. But even beyond that, it's a moral imperative. No one should be profiting off of incarcerated ppl attempting to stay in touch with loved ones.
"It can cost an incarcerated person and their family up to $24.95 for a single 15-minute in-state phone conversation. These exorbitant costs help explain why over $1.3 billion a year goes to the prison telephone industry." https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2017/06/13/fathersday17/
"Private companies that supply goods to the prison commissary or provide telephone service for correctional facilities bring in almost as much money ($2.9 billion) as governments pay private companies ($3.9 billion) to operate private prisons." https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/money.html
If interested in fighting against prison profiteering, supporting organizations with @WorthRises which works directly with incarcerated people to expose the commercialization of the criminal legal system and supports those impacted by these policies: https://worthrises.org/
And as always, issues like prison phone calls should be thought of through an abolitionist lens. While it's essential to mitigate the harm experienced by incarcerated ppl *right now*, the goal is always moving towards to a world in which these ppl aren't in prison to begin with.
To that last point, I've shared this many times, but will share again in case folks on this thread are new to this idea:
“Abolition means not just the closing of prisons but the presence, instead, of vital systems of support that many communities lack.” https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/17/magazine/prison-abolition-ruth-wilson-gilmore.html
“Abolition means not just the closing of prisons but the presence, instead, of vital systems of support that many communities lack.” https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/17/magazine/prison-abolition-ruth-wilson-gilmore.html
