This post is part of our Policy vs. People series, where we break down harmful policies that affect incarcerated people and their families—and spotlight the real-life impact behind the rules.

The Policy: Making phone calls, messaging, and visiting (both in-person and video) expensive, restricted, or outright inaccessible.
The Impact: Families are torn apart. Legal help is harder to get. Mental health declines.

It is said that prison is for rehabilitation. But what kind of rehabilitation happens in isolation?

People in jails and prisons are often charged exorbitant prices just to speak with loved ones. Some prisons don’t offer messaging systems at all. Many that do, now rely on third-party scanning services that digitize incoming mail, often blurry, skewed, or incomplete images that strip letters of their intimacy and meaning.

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Dayroom phones are limited and long lines mean people are lucky to get even one call that cuts off automatically after 15, 20, or 30 minutes depending on the state. These costs are in addition to what the recipient already pays for their regular phone plan.. For institutions that have video visits, they’re often through glitchy video kiosks. Facilities with video visits often force people to use glitchy, delayed kiosks. And in-person visits? They demand time off work, hotel stays, gas, or airfare and car rental. and navigating strict and inconsistently enforced dress codes. Families are sometimes turned away — even after traveling for hours — based on the whim of an officer, or an unexpected lockdown. Some people haven’t had physical contact with family in years.

This isn’t about safety, it isn’t about rehabilitation. It’s about profit and control.
Companies like Securus and GTL rake in hundreds of millions from families who can barely afford to stay connected. Prisons benefit too — by eliminating the “burden” of visits and making money in the process.

Learn More

To dig deeper into the prison telecom industry, check out Week 8 of Worth Rises’ educational series, The Curriculum, titled “Telecom.”
This module explores the $1.4 billion prison telecom industry and its devastating impact on incarcerated people and their families.

The irony: We talk about rehabilitation, but we restrict the very lifelines that make it possible.

👊 Let’s change that.
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