RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Virginia lawmakers have advanced legislation that would make it easier for people in prison to communicate with their loved ones.
The Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee unanimously approved a bill to require state-run prisons — those overseen by the Department of Corrections — to allow prisoners to make phone calls and video visitation to those on a prisoner’s approved call list for free.
Currently, those in prison have to pay $0.04 per minute to make a phone call and $0.20 per minute for video visitation.
Shawn Weneta with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Virginia previously spent 16 years in prison. He said getting the chance to speak with family was a “tension reliever.”
“I can’t overemphasize the value of being able to have that brief 15 to 20 minutes of respite, of talking to someone that you know cares about you and wants the best for you and loves you,” Weneta said.
Sen. Jennifer Boysko, D-Fairfax, patroned this bill. She said that many valuable conversations prisoners can have with loved ones, such as those about preparing for release or getting a job afterwards, cannot be done in five minute increments.
In this way, Boysko said increasing communication with loved ones would improve safety in prisons and would better prepare prisoners for their eventual release.
Boysko added that free phone and video calls would also make it easier for kids to speak to their incarcerated parents.
“A child needs that connection with their parents,” Boysko said. “They need to know that they are loved and cared for, and being able to provide that resource so that they are not spending hundreds of dollars each month, when resources are [already] tight, is good for children.”
The bill would also require that one phone be available for every ten prisoners within a housing unit at a facility.
Boysko acknowledged that making calls free could cost the state millions of dollars in the short term, but in the long term, she said it will save money by reducing the number of people who return to prison.
