On Monday, July 18th, the Massachusetts legislature voted on the state’s budget, which was passed by both the House and Senate. The budget currently sits before Governor Baker for his final approval. There are multiple items in this year’s budget that will improve the lives of incarcerated people and their families in Massachusetts. PLS is […]
Can sheriffs collect lucrative commissions from inmate phone calls?
Supreme Judicial Court will hear arguments in case seeking to limit fees Commonwealth MagazineOctober 27, 2021By Shira Schoenberg FOR YEARS, Bristol County Sheriff Tom Hodgson’s office collected hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in telephone fees paid by family members, attorneys, and others who received calls from county jail inmates. Similar structures are set up across the state’s county […]
Thursday hearing will tackle Massachusetts bill that would provide free phone calls from prisons and jails
Thursday hearing will tackle Massachusetts bill that would provide free phone calls from prisons and jails The Berkshire EagleOctober 21, 2021By Danny Jin Working for $5 per week while behind bars, Jasmin Borges could afford just one 20-minute phone call with her daughters each week. “When I came home 12 years later, nothing could prepare […]
Harsh prison rules punish the innocent
December 14, 2019
The Boston Globe
Yvonne Abraham
Bills would pull the plug on sky-high jail phone costs
November 17, 2019
Daily Hampshire Gazette
Michael Connors
Families want to end prison phone call charges
October 22, 2019
CommonWealth Magazine
Sarah Betancourt
WGBH Greater Boston: Sustaining An Emotional Life Line For Those Behind Bars
WGBH GREATER BOSTON: SUSTAINING AN EMOTIONAL LIFE LINE FOR THOSE BEHIND BARS While conversations about criminal justice reform have gained more traction recently, they generally have focused on issues of reducing the number of people sent to prison or jail. But advocates stress the need to also address conditions for those who are currently incarcerated, […]
Lawsuit targets high cost of phone calls from jail
South Coast Today May 5, 2018 By Jennette Barnes In the days before her fiance’s suicide in jail, Fall River mental health clinician Kellie Pearson argued with him over the cost of his phone calls home. “For Michael, I think that just put more pressure on him and made him feel worse,” she said. Michael T. […]
Lawsuit challenges the high cost of calling from jail
The Boston Globe May 4, 2018 By Maria Cramer For the 95-year-old mother of one inmate, the high costs of taking phone calls from the Bristol County House of Correction forced her to choose between paying medical bills and talking to her son. Pearson is among four plaintiffs, two of them inmates, who have sued […]