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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2017 - 2018
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | April 26, 2018 04:36 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Jake Wheatley, Jr. |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Prison Phone Line: CSM |
| In the near feature, I plan on introducing legislation that would facilitate a transition towards inmate-friendly and family -friendly phone systems in the Commonwealth's county jails. Currently, the collect-calls made by inmates to their loved ones are billed by the minute and the recipient must pay for the call. The rate is often very high, then on top of that, there is usually a steep connection fee or surcharge. The high costs associated with these calls discourage families from taking these calls and studies show that inmates with regular family contact are less likely to return to prison after they get out. This isn't just a financial burden issue, it is a recidivism issue. My legislation would require telecommunication contracts to be transparent, limits revenue from the telecommunication system to cover just the reasonable operating cost of the system, requires rates be plainly visible to the inmate and other protections to limit abuse. Please join me in co-sponsoring this important legislation so that we can ultimately reduce the cost burdening the Commonwealth's families and to aid in reducing recidivism. If you have any questions please contact Jbarton@pahouse.net |
Introduced as HB2302