The US is moving to make prison calls free. Australia is making them more expensive

While several US states are making phone calls from prison free, people in prison in Australia are still being charged exorbitant rates.

A phone call from a prison in Australia costs about what a household would’ve paid for the same call two decades ago.

It’s widely recognised that maintaining contact with family and friends in the community is greatly beneficial for people in prison and can have a significant impact on reducing recidivism.

The recent Victorian cultural review of prisons found that providing phone calls from prison can help those in custody to maintain, build and repair relationships, and urged the state government to make these services more accessible.

There has been movement on this issue in the US, where private providers have long charged exorbitant rates for individuals to make a phone call from within prison. According to the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, one in three families with an incarcerated loved one in the US has gone into debt over the cost of communications and visits.

In California, a new law has been passed providing free phone calls for people in prison, and banning private companies from profiting off these communication services. A number of other states, including Minnesota and Connecticut, have also introduced similar laws.

But things are moving in the opposite direction in Australia.

The NSW government last year banned a third-party service that was helping to reduce the costs of prison phone calls. These call management services, known as Engine Numbers, made it possible for calls to cost about 30 to 40c, rather than the normal rate of $2.60 for 10 minutes, or 24c per minute.

These services were deactivated by the NSW government due to security concerns that they were being used for criminal activity or for intimidating witnesses as they don’t follow protocols to verify who an inmate is contacting.

In Victoria people in prison are charged 57c per minute for a call to a mobile phone, or $7 for a 12 minute phone call.

This is lucrative business for private company Comsec TR, which holds a six year contract to provide telecommunications services to Victorian prisons worth $26 million.

The recent cultural review into Victorian prisons recommended that phone calls in prison be made more accessible and cheaper. The review heard evidence of the “prohibitive cost” of these phone calls.

“The combination of very low daily wages for employment within the custodial environment means that people in custody may not be able to remain in contact with family and community,” the review said.

The review also quoted someone in custody on the issues in accessing phone calls while incarcerated.

“I still don’t understand why - like in today’s society, when all the phone companies are on unlimited plans, our phone calls still cost $12 to make a mobile phone call,” they said.

“Like we earn - top dollar is $8.95 a day. I don’t understand. I don’t get it.”