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Massachusetts Becomes the Fifth State to Make Prison Phone Calls Free
Loaded on March 1, 2024
published in Prison Legal News
March, 2024, page 15
Until December 1, 2023, Massachusetts prisoners and their families paid 12 cents per minute for phone calls, 14 cents in jails, though the first 10 minutes there every month were free. That added up to about $25 million annually—money that will now be saved, after the 2024 state budget took ...
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More from this issue:
- Overcrowded and Understaffed, Oklahoma County Jail Remains “Deplorable”, by David Reutter
- From the Editor, by Paul Wright
- Lawsuit Claims Seattle’s King County Jail Shows Little Improvement in Quarter Century Since “Hammer Agreement”
- No Jail Time for Former Arizona Prisons Director After Armed Standoff With Cops
- Pennsylvania County Found Skimming Prisoner-Designated Funds from ViaPath Kickbacks
- With Guard Arrests at Georgia Jail, Sheriff Asks, “What Are We Doing Wrong?”
- Colorado Sheriff Resigns After Deputies Fatally Shoot Motorist
- U.S. Sentencing Commission Greenlights Retroactive Sentence Reductions
- Redemption Songs: The Forgotten History of American Prison Music, by Maurice Chammah
- Nearly $11 Million Settlement Reached in Suit by BOP Prisoners Held Without Heat, Electricity During New York Winter Storm, by Douglas Ankney
- Federal Prisoner in Virginia Convicted on Fresh Kiddie Porn Charges After Drawing His Own
- Massachusetts Becomes the Fifth State to Make Prison Phone Calls Free
- California Slowed, But Not Barred from “Dumping” Sick, Indigent Parolees on Public Hospitals
- Rikers Island Detainees Given Pricey Weight-Loss Surgery but Little Follow-Up Care
- Illinois Eases Restrictions on Prisoners Released Under Supervision
- Moms Released from Massachusetts Prison Decry Dearth of Help
- Eighth Circuit Issues Primer on Informal Due Process Procedures to Missouri Prisoner, by David Reutter
- DOJ Finds ADA Violations in Arizona Prisons, Demands Improvements
- Sick Georgia Prisoners Forced to Choose Between Treatment and Early Release
- Unsealed Settlement Reveals PrimeCare Medical Paid $337,500 After Pennsylvania Prisoner’s Suicide, by David Reutter
- Eighth Circuit Remands ADA Claims—But Not Constitutional Claims—of Paralyzed Arkansas Jail Detainee, by David Reutter
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- Alabama Conducts First Nitrogen Hypoxia Execution
- “More jobs than people”: Prisoners Training to Work on Ohio Infrastructure Projects after Release
- HRDC Wins $14 Million Settlement for Exonerated Florida Prisoner
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- Ninth Circuit Shuts Down Settlement Agreement in Long-Running California Prisoners’ Gang Affiliation Suit, by David Reutter
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- New Jersey Supreme Court Revives Parolee’s Challenge to Administratively Imposed Treatment Program, by Matthew Clarke
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- News in Brief
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More from these topics:
- Pigeonly Flies Into Telecom Turbulence, Declares Bankruptcy, Jan. 15, 2025. Bankruptcy, Mail Regulations, Private Phone Contractors.
- First Circuit Rejects Request by Securus and Pay Tel to Stay FCC Prison Phone Rate Caps, Jan. 15, 2025. Telephone Rates, Private Phone Contractors, Securus.
- FCC Slashes Prison and Jail Phone Rates, Caps Video Call Cost, Eliminates “Site Commission” Kickbacks, Oct. 15, 2024. Telephone Rates, Video Visitation, Federal Funds, Private Phone Contractors, Securus, Global Tel*Link Corp.
- Telecom Firms Shift Revenue Streams in Response to Prison Phone Reforms, Sept. 15, 2024. Prison Reform, Private Phone Contractors.
- Georgia Sheriff Takes $160,000 Kickback from Pay Tel for Video Visitation, July 1, 2024. Government Misconduct, Video Visitation, Private Phone Contractors.
- Los Angeles County Makes Jail Phone Calls Free, June 1, 2024. Telephones, Telephone Rates.
- Florida County Makes Free Jail Phone Calls Available, April 1, 2024. Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates, Securus.
- Minnesota Prison on Lockdown After Protest Over Dirty Water, Lack of Phone Use and Out-of-Cell Time, March 1, 2024. Protests, Exercise, Showers, Water, Lockdowns, Telephone Access.
- Pennsylvania County Found Skimming Prisoner-Designated Funds from ViaPath Kickbacks, March 1, 2024. Jail Misconduct, Government Misconduct, Kickback Scheme, Private Phone Contractors.
- Ninth Circuit Revives Challenge by Federal Prisoner in Arizona to BOP’s 300-Minute Monthly Phone Cap, Feb. 1, 2024. Retaliatory Transfers, Telephone Access.