Rising costs hit inmates, families priced out of phone calls at county jails

Many families with incarcerated loved ones rely on phone calls to sustain connection, show support and send love, but the price of these calls can make it difficult to do so.

Katie Adama’s partner was recently transferred from Hennepin County Jail to Sherburne County Jail. Adama now only speaks to him for five to 10 minutes each day, as it’s all they can afford.

At the new facility, in-state phone calls are 16 cents per minute, much higher than the previous 5 cents per minute at Hennepin County, Adama said.

“For families trying to stay connected, this increase is financially punishing and functionally limits communication with loved ones,” she said. “For many, the cost is so high that regular contact becomes impossible.”

The recent Federal Communications Commission decision rolling back nationwide rate caps for jail and prison phone calls could be a factor in this, making it even more expensive for families in Minnesota’s county jails to stay connected with incarcerated loved ones, even though state prisons already offer free calls.

In county jails like Sherburne, incarcerated people rarely earn meaningful wages, often only pennies per hour if they work at all, meaning families must shoulder most communication costs themselves. When Adama’s partner calls with $1 on the line, the couple have just over five minutes to talk. At Hennepin County, that same dollar would allow for 20 minutes. Adama, now a single mother, said she cannot afford substantial calls because of the price along with $3 fees.

“I only have a certain amount of income right now, and now it’s just really tough,” she said. “[At Hennepin] I would put $4 on there and that would last us like two days. Now this place, I’m putting $10 to $20 a day. I can’t even afford that.”

Going from being able to talk for hours to just minutes has affected both the incarcerated person and their family on the outside.

“The phone calls become really almost like a luxury to talk to our families,” Adama said. “This is the way we talk to our families, to support their mental health and prepare for reintegration.”

Phone calls between inmates and families improve morale during incarceration and increase reintegration outcomes, according to the Prison Policy Initiative.

Adama has noticed impacts on her, her son’s, and her boyfriend’s mental health.

“I can’t speak to him the way I would like to, and he’s part of my support system,” she said. “He’s going through a lot in there, and I feel like I want to be his support system too … it definitely has affected both of our mental health.”

Minister JaNaé Bates Imari, co-executive director of ISAIAH MN, has seen firsthand how important this communication is. The community organizing nonprofit has advocated for criminal justice reforms, including the 2023 bill making phone calls from inmates in state prisons free. This fight was personal for Imari because her husband was incarcerated in another state.

“It was a law that I was fighting for because I know what it means to have to pay thousands of dollars every year to just stay connected, even though the law passing didn’t benefit me directly,” Imari said.

Imari’s husband’s confidence in his ability to contribute to society now that he is free was built by phone calls.

Incarcerated for manslaughter, he maintained relationships with the victim’s family, including grandparents who mentored him over the phone.

“All of these family members were in consistent communication that led him to a path of restoration and reconciliation,” Imari said. This path took hundreds of phone calls over 20 years, costing thousands of dollars.

“That has completely shifted and shaped his ability to have dignity and forgiveness for himself and be restored in ways I don’t believe he would have been able to otherwise,” she said.

Imari said these costly communication barriers send a message to incarcerated people, who are largely at or below the poverty line, that they’re not worthy if they don’t have the money. It also tells loved ones they’re not worthy to stay connected, fostering shame and condemnation.

“If we want them to be released and become upstanding citizens, how dare we put that kind of expectation on someone when we treat them in the opposite way?” she said.

For Adama, the phone costs also make it difficult to work on her partner’s appeal.

“It’s hard for us to communicate because the pricing is so high, like for his appeal and talking about legal things.”

Other communication avenues are challenging too. Mailed letters arrive in her partner’s hands a week or two later, and she must travel two hours for in-person visits, she said.

In May 2023, Gov. Tim Walz signed the Judiciary and Public Safety Budget Bill, allocating $3.1 million annually to provide free phone calls for people incarcerated in state prisons. The Minnesota Department of Corrections supported the bill, which went into effect July 1, 2023.

“It makes financial sense,” Imari said. “It was actually far less expensive for the state to take on the cost than for individual family members to pay. Families of incarcerated people often earn just $19,000 a year, so phone costs literally price out the poorest of the poor from staying connected.”

However, establishing similar programs at county jails is more complicated.

“With the state we could fight at one place,” she said. “At the county and city level, you have to fight for each individual facility, it’s like having to fight at 70-plus counties in the state.”

Building relationships and securing funding at the county level is also challenging.

“From what I remember about the county fights, you actually have to negotiate with individual jails, who feel they’ll have to pay out of their own resources to ease the financial burden on families,” she said.

The difference in prices between neighboring counties led Adama to question whether revenue is being prioritized over community well-being.

“That’s a big question,” Imari said. “All these places are supposed to be about rehabilitation. If it is really about rehabilitation, they would invest in resources to support people rather than focus on punishment, which only perpetuates cycles of harm.”

Familial and communal connection is a necessary factor in rehabilitation, she said.

Sherburne County Jail did not respond to the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder for comment in time for publication.

Damenica Ellis welcomes reader responses at dellis@spokesman-recorder.com.