This Thursday, April 6th at 5 pm at the Alachua County Administration Building in the Jack Durrance Board Room (12 SE 1st St, Gainesville, second floor), the County Commission is holding a special meeting on free inmate phone calls. Join the ACLC and other community partners in demanding free calls for inmates at the Alachua County Jail. Currently, the families and friends of the incarcerated carry the burden of paying for phone calls and keeping in contact with their loved ones in jail. We demand that this cost be eliminated.
Please come and join us at this meeting to end this unjust and unfair monetary burden.
IF YOU CANNOT MAKE THE MEETING please email the commissioners with the following talking points to the following email: bocc@alachuacounty.us.
If you CAN make the meeting, we encourage you in joining us and speaking out in favor of free phone calls with these talking points:
- Free calls for incarcerated individuals reduce the burdens faced by their friends and families, who are currently on the hook for phone call charges.
- Connection with others is a basic human right and it is morally wrong to charge inmates or their families for wanting to stay in contact, especially those in jail who are supposed to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Human beings should always be afforded the right to stay in contact with their friends and family, and how much someone makes should not be a factor in their ability to do so.
- People in jail are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Many inmates are awaiting trial and charging for phone calls is no different than levying fines without due process, which is unconstitutional.
- Allowing free phone calls has been shown to reduce recidivism. By having greater contact with friends and families, incarcerated people have an easier time transitioning to life on the outside. If cost is a barrier, incarcerated people cannot have this support and preparation before they leave jail, and they will therefore be more likely to recidivate.
- Thus, allowing free phone calls decreases the monetary burden on families who are already going through enough, restores some humanity in the jail system, provides the constitutional right of due process, and decreases recidivism. Free phone calls are a clear and just path to a ‘justice’ system. This is not only morally necessary, but also cost-effective for the County.