High cost of prison phone calls undercuts family contact

It is widely accepted that maintaining links with both friends and family while in prison makes eventual reintegration into society a more streamlined process. In addition, studies have shown that those with close familial bonds are less likely to reoffend.

The Scottish Prison Service states ‘supporting and maintaining family links and promoting positive relationships generally while the family member is in prison is one of the SPS’s key priorities going forward’. It also states ‘we recognise that such positive relationships can make a valuable contribution in supporting offenders to desist from further offending’. Therefore the rationale is clear, family contact helps support desistance.

Family visits and days are a great idea, but cannot happen daily and even attending these on a weekly basis may present logistical difficulties for some family members. An important method of maintaining contact with family on the ‘outside’ therefore will always be the use of the prison payphone.

Family contact is not just important for the prisoner. Phone contact helps those on both sides of the prison wall. This is especially important for those with a partner/children living outside, who are left with the pressures of everyday life.

With wages ranging from £7 to £22 per week, and a £20 maximum amount per week accessible from PPC accounts, prisoners have at most £27 to £42 per week to spend on the canteen and phone calls. This may seem adequate; however the reality of the situation is that after essentials are purchased, little remains. And paying £20 a week into the PPC is difficult for many families. Many prisoners do not receive any financial support beyond prison wages.

Even someone putting all of their wages into their phone account has to limit their family contact by phone. This is exacerbated by the high cost of phone calls from prison. Costs range from 6p/min for calls to a landline off-peak, to 13p/min for calls to a mobile. A daily ten minute phone call, at the cheapest price, works out at £9.10p per/week, which is still more than some prisoners’ wages. Getting this ‘low’ rate also requires paying for an expensive line rental package to have a landline installed at home, which is increasingly rare in modern society.

Can anyone, prisoner or not, create a happy and supportive family through a single ten minute conversation per day? Is ten minutes enough to go through the daily problems faced by those who are supporting you? If you have more than one child, how can you give proper support and guidance when constantly checking your phone credit running down? If your child is experiencing problems or needing support, or even just wanting a conversation, rushing the conversation does not offer them support or make them feel listened to.

This is a serious problem for those wishing to phone their children/partner every day. In this context, it is not surprising that those who do not have much disposable income rely on mobile phones as their point of contact. And yet the Prison Service boasts (Inside Time March 2018 News Bites) about blocking phone signals for prisoners. The reality is that mobile phone use in prison is fuelled by people wanting to speak to their families and not about ‘Mr Bigs’ keeping their criminal enterprises going.

If the Prison Service is serious about supporting family contact it would tackle the prices of phone calls. It would use its own considerable power to challenge phone service providers charging rates that are monopolistic, extortionate and immoral. People not in prison – who have jobs, income and consumer power – would boycott providers if they were asked to pay these rates. So how are these acceptable for someone ‘earning’ £1 a day?

Whilst it could be argued those in prison are there to be punished, the knock-on effect of these high-call costs is the punishment of the children of those in prison. Children of those imprisoned are already in a vulnerable position with studies showing those with a parent in custody are at a higher risk of becoming involved with the criminal justice system themselves.

High phone call costs and low prison wages is a double-edged sword that makes the SPS’s aims of ‘encouraging positive relationships’, less achievable and less believable. Furthermore, it seems strange that maintaining phone contact with loved ones is so limited when it is known that family contact whilst in custody encourages desistance upon release.