COC staffer joins Massachusetts governor and advocates for ceremonial signing of new free prison phone call legislation
By Color Of Change staff
It was a monumental day when Color Of Change staffer Erick Fernandez and about a dozen other advocates working with the Keeping Families Connected/No Cost Calls Coalition joined Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey on Jan. 5 for a ceremonial signing of a bill making phone calls free for all people being held in jails and prisons in the commonwealth.
Fernandez, who was representing thousands of COC members at the bill signing, spearheaded COC’s effort to push for free calls for incarcerated people. COC joined the No Cost Calls Coalition in January 2023, helping to boost, multiply and amplify the efforts of individuals who had been advocating for the change for a number of years.
Incarcerated people and their families have been bearing a great financial burden for years as telecommunications companies raked in billions of dollars nationwide by charging as much as $1 per minute for people behind bars to call their loved ones. The price-gouging companies were harming more than just household budgets when they put the squeeze on cash-strapped incarcerated people and their families, many of whom are low income.
Thanks to efforts by COC and the coalition, the free phone calls measure was passed by the Massachusetts Legislature, formally signed into law by Gov. Healey in November and went into effect Dec. 1. The impact of the change has been both quick and visible. The volume of phone calls jumped 45% in the first month compared to the previous three-month average, according to a report from the Massachusetts Department of Corrections. More people are making calls to their loved ones, officials said.
“It feels like a boulder has been lifted off my chest,” said Nia Reid-Patterson, a coalition member who had been advocating with her family for free calls for more than six years. Like many other families impacted by the burden of the fees, she said, “making the choice between paying for phone calls to keep our families connected and groceries has been nothing short of cruelty from predatory prison phone companies profiting from our already vulnerable families.”
So the ceremonial bill signing was nothing short of sweet for coalition members, including Fernandez, who were invited to the Massachusetts State House in Boston by Gov. Healey, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and state lawmakers to celebrate the bill’s passage and the real, immediate positive impact it was having on families.
“We provided support in a number of ways, including organizing, campaign strategy, social media, communications and more,” Fernandez said of COC. Massachusetts-based COC members signed a petition and made calls urging legislators to pass the bill.
“This was part of our approach in raising awareness to the general public, Color Of Change members and legislators about how the exorbitant cost of phone and video calls disproportionately hurts Black families in Massachusetts,” Fernandez said.
The new Massachusetts law marks a milestone in the movement to end the abusive power of prison profiteering. Massachusetts is the fifth state in the nation to make prison and jail calls free. It joins Connecticut, California, Colorado and Minnesota in eliminating such fees. Advocates continue to push state-by-state for free prison calls.
Tens of thousands of COC members were instrumental in the long push to enact federal legislation to eliminate predatory rates for phone calls from prisons and jails. The Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act of 2022, which President Joe Biden signed in early January 2023, allows the FCC to regulate the price of prison phone and video calls.
Federal regulations determining the price cap on phone calls are being drafted and may be in place as early as July 2024. Color Of Change is working with the national phone justice coalition to urge the FCC to act swiftly and in the best economic interest of impacted families.