The Prison Phone Predicament

By Victoria Ravenel

Have you ever considered the importance of prison phones?

Keeping incarcerated individuals in contact with the outside world is immensely important to their re-entry into society – a smooth transition lessens the likelihood of repeat offenses.

But phones cost money, even in prison. So who pays?

As I learned through coverage in the Los Angeles Times' and at the Leadership Conference for Civil Rights (LCCR) on July 25, it is not the incarcerated persons, but the families and taxpayers who must pay the unreasonably high costs of prison phone calls. 

And just what are the costs? This skit, put on by LCCR organizers helped me and a host of social justice interns from Washington, D.C.,  see not only the monetary costs, but the impact on communication between the incarcerated and their families as well.

Background: This scenario features a mother of three whose husband has been incarcerated for five years. All of her children are in school and the oldest child is applying for college this month. Between the mother and her oldest child, both have been working overtime but there is one more application fee to be paid for. After groceries, rent, and transportation they both only have enough to pay for the last application fee.

Prison Phone Call Transcript

*phone is ringing*

Loved one: Hello?

Operator: I have a collect call from John Wilson.  Would you like to accept the charges?

Loved one: *looks at money left* I’m sorry.  I’ll decline the charges.

Operator: Ok. Thank you. Have a nice day.

*hours later…phone is ringing*

Loved one: This is Mary, how may I help you?

Operator: I have a collect call from John Wilson.  Would you like to accept the charges?

Loved one: *sighs* Sure. That’s fine.

Operator: Ok.  Ma’am you do realize that because this call is taking place in Virginia and is going out to Maryland that you will be charged a $4.95 connection fee?

Loved one:  Ok. I understand. Put him through.

Impacted person:  Hey, how is everything?  I called you guys earlier.

Loved one:  I know.  I know.  I couldn’t accept the call just yet.  I was picking the girls up from school.  Never mind that, how are you holding up?  Are you eating?

Impacted person:  Just missing you guys.  I want to hear about the girls though.  Have any decisions been made yet on schools?

Mobbing, er, Missing the Point

Just Policy Blog Guest Post
By Angela Rudolph

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn on May 18, 2013 signed into law legislation increasing the criminal penalties against individuals who use electronic communication or social media to organize violent flash mobs. Senate Bill #1005 allows a judge to hand down an extended prison sentence to anyone convicted of mob action who used social media or text messaging to organize it. Supporters of the bill argued the legislation is in response to a “growing trend” of large groups using social media such as Twitter and Facebook to organize flash mobs to commit crimes. Lawmakers and police cited summer-break concerns of mob attacks being on the rise, pointing to previous incidences of teens being arrested after groups began randomly attacking each other and pedestrians along Chicago’s Magnificent Mile causing dozens of arrests and multiple injuries.

"We see it virtually every year when the weather gets warm,” City of Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said after the Mag Mile attacks. “We were deployed, we were right on top of it and made the arrests. Preventing it is something that's very difficult to do."

"The Times, They Are a-Changin'"

By Peter Leone
In early February 2013, I assumed the role of Acting Executive Director at JPI, an organization I've known and respected since its founding 15 years ago. For the past eight years, I have had the privilege of serving as a member of the Board of Directors, and for the last two, as chair. During my brief tenure here, I’ve made a number of new professional friends and acquaintances.

Earlier this summer, JPI released its first book,  IncarcerationGeneration, a series of reflections written by those who have been most affected by the system as well as those seeking to change it. During the past six months, we also released several reports including Common Ground and Juvenile Justice Reform in Connecticut; both reports describe the forces shaping the decline in juvenile incarceration rates in several states and point to opportunities to develop more humane, cost-effective, and responsive justice policies in other jurisdictions.

Turning Statistics into Reform

By Zerline Hughes

In our field of research, advocacy and technical assistance, it’s every organization’s goal to truly impact policymakers to make a move, enact change, spread the gospel, so to speak, so that our statistics and recommendations turn into action, reform.

In February, thanks to partnerships with organizations like Campaign for Youth Justice, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Tow Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation’s Models for Change Initiative, our report, “Juvenile Justice Reform in Connecticut: How Collaboration and Commitment Improved Outcomes for Youth,” which received widespread media attention will be highlighted during Sen. Chris Murphy’s (D-CT) Capitol Hillbriefing Tuesday, July 30, 2013.

The great news is that not only Connecticut’s great work over the last two decades will be highlighted. Two additional states, Ohio and Texas, have made strides and experts will share their successes, best practices that other states should adopt. The briefing comes on the heels of a report released this week disclosing a drop in youth crime entitled, “America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2013,” authored by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, of which the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is a participating agency.

Independence Day is Subject to Interpretation

By Walter Fortson

Photo credit: PrisonPhotography.org

Each year, Americans across the nation celebrate Independence Day; commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence by our forefathers, solidifying our freedom from Great Britain.  With American pastimes of fireworks, sporting events, picnics and parades, every year our citizens don the streets with their children, wearing light-up necklaces and bracelets, showing patriotism to our dear country.
As for me, and millions of others, the concept of Independence Day doesn’t quite resonate; at least not in terms of patriotism. July 4, 1776 was not a celebration for those serving life sentences on southern plantations, and 237 years later, the same demographic struggles with American systems that occlude freedom.

African-American males are the most incarcerated demographic in the nation –and on the planet. From 2008 to 2010, I, too, was a part of that population. Vividly, I recall the feelings and emotions that came with being stripped of my freedom, sanctity, and integrity throughout that period in my life. For those two years, I was property of the state of New Jersey. “810161D” became my identity.

More Together: The Currency in Social Change Networks

Originally posted on the Youth Transition Funders Group Blog, Connected by 25 on Monday July 1, 2013
 

By Guest Blogger Chris Sturgis

I was delighted to hear that Marc Schindler has been named the new Executive Director
at the Justice Policy Institute. He is one of the peeps in my network – someone that I believe, in whatever position he is in, will bring creativity, leadership, and an unswerving commitment to doing what is best for vulnerable youth. Marc’s career has included stops at the Youth Law Center, working with Vinnie Schiraldi at District of Columbia Dept of Youth Rehabilitation Services and Venture Philanthropy Partners.  With expertise in government, philanthropy, and advocacy, Marc is positioned incredibly well as the head of JPI.

In reflecting on his career, I started to reflect on the power of networks. Certainly, the Youth Transition Funders Group is designed around social network theory with hubs that allow both specialization into education, foster care, and juvenile justice, as well as into strengthening weaker links around cross-cutting issues such as employment, mental health, and school-to-prison pipeline.   A formally structured network is important, but there is more to it than that, isn’t there? I’m thinking about this for the first time, so bear with me. I think there are two things that make a network powerful for social change:

1) The WIIF (what’s in it for me) or the reason people are in networks

2) The currency or the expectations for what one puts in and gets out of the network  

Incarceration Generation: The Book by Justice Policy Institute

By Victoria Ravenel        

Contrary to popular belief, crime has not risen over the past decade. It has, in fact, decreased substantially. And yet, at the same time, a mass incarceration pandemic has swept the nation, and the U.S. now locks up more of its citizens than any other country. This crisis spills over into the lives of everyone: the incarcerated person’s family, the victims, the courts, the government, youth, tax-paying citizens, you, me, us.  Whether you know someone who has been incarcerated or not, you are undoubtedly affected in some way.

The “whys” and “hows” of this crisis, its rise over the past 40 years, and the weight it bears on the shoulders of our generation is detailed statistically, anecdotally, and graphically in the Justice Policy Institute’s new book, IncarcerationGeneration (ISBN 978-0-9892928-0-1), released hot off the presses this week. The book of essays is a collaboration between JPI and the leading thinkers and activists in the criminal justice field, covering the people most affected by the criminal justice system such as youth, women, and the mentally ill, and aspects of the broken system including specialty courts, policing, and drug policy.

One of my favorite quotes from the book is found in the foreword, written by New York Times Bestseller Michelle Alexander, author of “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarcerationin the Age of Colorblindess.” She describes her visit to a school where she could almost taste the rage and pain of so many kids, all of whom knew someone who had been incarcerated.  She goes on to say, “In that silence and in those cries lies a truth that we, as a nation, have been unwilling to face.”