Prison Phone Justice

On Friday February 1^st, 60 people attended a public hearing on prison telephone rates in New York City co-hosted by Rainbow PUSH Coalition and the Campaign for Prison Phone Justice.  Federal Communications Commissioner Mignon Clyburn was a special guest speaker and marked the first time an FCC Commissioner was present at a public hearing regarding the high cost of prison telephone calls.  Over 10 people  testified, ranging from impacted families, ministers, advocates and civil rights leaders.  

The past year has been major for the Campaign for Prison Phone Justice and for families fighting to cap the high cost of prison phone calls (most recently, the Campaign even received an award for its work!). It's been a long journey to get us to this point, but the fight is far from over. Keep reading to find out how you can help win fair for rates for families once and for all.

A Quick Look Back:

In March of 2003, the Wright Petition was submitted to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) by Mrs. Martha Wright and other families of prisoners in an effort to set affordable rates for long distance phone calls from prison.  It sat with the FCC for nearly a decade until this past year when the Campaign alongside other national organizations began pressuring the FCC to act on the Wright Petition before it’s ten year anniversary in March 2013.  

The Campaign for Prison Phone Justice is a national effort challenging prison phone kickbacks and the U.S. Prison Telephone Industry. The campaign is jointly led by: Media Action Grassroots Network, Working Narratives, Prison Legal News and Participant Media as part of the social action campaign for Ava Duvernay's film Middle of Nowhere.

On Wednesday September 30, a delegation from Minnesota representing the Campaign for Prison Phone Justice—which included Main Street Project, The Community Justice Project and Take Action—met with Representative Keith Ellison to share the stories of how Minnesotan families are paying a high price to stay connected to their loved ones in prison. They requested that Representative Ellison speak out in support of the Wright Petition, a measure pending at the Federal Communications Commission, which would set reasonable rates for long distance phone calls from prisons, jails and detention center. 

[Last] Friday, the film Middle of Nowhere opened in several cities around the country. This award-winning and critically praised film is much more than art for art’s sake.

On August 23rd, a delegation of organizations from the California Bay Area met with the Deputy District Director of Congresswoman Barbara Lee to discuss the high cost of receiving a phone call from a prison, jail or detention center. Member-organizations of the delegation included the Center for Media Justice, Media Alliance, The Utility Reform Network (TURN) and Ella Baker Center.  The delegation is petitioning the Congresswoman to ask the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to address the high cost of prison phone calls by passing the Wright Petition.

By Mel Motel, Prison Legal News/Human Rights Defense Center

On August 14, a delegation of organizations from Charleston met with Senator Jay Rockefeller’s staff to discuss the high cost of receiving a phone call from a prison, jail or detention center.  This visit was held as part of a larger effort called the Campaign for Prison Phone Justice, a national campaign seeking to lower the cost of prison phone calls.  Organizations in the delegation included Advocare, Citizens United for Rehabilitation (CURE), West Virginia Record, and Senior Legal Aid.  

On August 21^st a delegation of organizations from the New York area met with Representative Yvette Clarke (Brooklyn) to discuss the high cost of receiving a phone call from a prison, jail or detention center.  The visit was held as part of a larger effort called the Campaign for Prison Phone Justice, a national campaign seeking to lower the cost of prison phone calls.  Member organizations included: Center for Media Justice, Peoples Production House, Families Rally for Emancipation and Empowerment (FREE) and Pastor Will Seaton.

Crossposted from Public Knowledge

Recently, the FCC has received hundreds of letters from prisoners across the country asking Chairman Genachowski for action on the Wright petition, which calls on the agency to provide a solution for exorbitant prison phone rates. These letters are result of the Prison Phone Justice Campaign where campaign partner Prison Legal News ran an ad in their newspaper, asking incarcerated individuals to share their personal experiences.

By Nekima Levy-Pounds, Esq./ Reposted from www.centerformediajustice.org

Currently over 2.7 million children in the U.S. have a parent who is incarcerated. As a result of the failed war on drugs that began in the 1980s, an increasing number of children have not one, but two incarcerated parents. This phenomenon has occurred largely as a result of drug conspiracy laws which make it easier for women to be charged with drug crimes for peripheral involvement in drug activity such as answering telephones or stashing drugs for a boyfriend or spouse. To put this in perspective, the Bureau of Justice Statistics notes, that from 1986 to 1996, the number of female prisoners sentenced to state prisons for drug crimes ballooned from 2,370 to 23,700. The number has continued to grow steadily since then. Sadly, many of the women who are caught in our nation’s drug war are mothers of children under age 18 and were often the sole primary caregiver of their children prior to being incarcerated.