Families of incarcerated people shouldn’t have to pay to stay connected

“Imagine needing to choose between paying a bill and receiving a call from your child in jail.” My grandmother, who raised me, often had to make this decision in order for my incarcerated father and me to keep in contact.

The first 20 years of my life, my relationship with my father was via telephone because he was incarcerated in a facility too far for my grandmother and me to travel. My grandmother was disabled and supported our household on her limited workers’ compensation benefits. I understand the pain of that distance — and how financial barriers only make it worse.

For most people, picking up the phone is second nature. Calling your mom for advice, checking in with your kids, or hearing a partner’s voice at the end of a long day — it’s easy to take that for granted. But for people who are incarcerated, and for the families who love them, even a simple phone call is something they have to think twice about.

For decades, families have struggled to stay connected with their incarcerated loved ones because of the outrageous cost of communication. In Pennsylvania, the average in-state phone rate for outgoing calls from state prisons was $0.20 per minute as of 2021. These costs are often inflated by contracts with private phone companies that pay commissions to local governments, profiting off of incarceration and family separation.

Family connection is one of the strongest predictors of successful reentry.

In the United States — which holds more than 20% of the world’s incarcerated population — these financial burdens are part of a deeply flawed system. Nearly 1.9 million people are behind bars in the U.S., and they are disproportionately Black and brown due to generations of racist policies and overpolicing. But the burden of incarceration doesn’t just fall on those inside — it ripples out to their families and communities.

This isolation has real and lasting consequences, especially for children with an incarcerated parent. In our own state, an estimated 81,096 children — about 3% of Pennsylvania’s kids — have a parent currently in a state prison.

These are children missing things so many of us take for granted, like having that parent at the dinner table or dropping them off at school. When families can’t afford to talk regularly, that absence becomes even harder to bear for the people on both sides of the bars.

Family connection is one of the strongest predictors of successful reentry. People who stay in touch with loved ones while incarcerated are more likely to find stability and employment once they return home. But this isn’t just about outcomes or numbers. This is about basic humanity. No one should lose the right to dignity and connection just because they are incarcerated.

Being able to talk to the people you love who can support you in your rehabilitation journey isn’t a privilege — it should be a given.

That’s why I’m calling on lawmakers to support legislation that would make phone calls, video calls, and electronic messages free for incarcerated people and their families. My bill, House Bill 1506, would eliminate the cost of all communication services for incarcerated individuals in both state and county facilities, and relieve that financial burden on families all across the commonwealth.

This is a clear step toward justice and a system that ensures people aren’t cycling through the prison system. Other states — like California and Connecticut — have already made communication free in their correctional systems. It’s time Pennsylvania does the same.

No one should go broke just trying to say “I love you.”

Andre D. Carroll (D., Philadelphia) represents the 201st District in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.