HARTFORD, Conn. (WCBS 880) — Connecticut could be the first state in the nation to allow free phone calls from prison.
The state Senate on Friday passed a bill allowing the incarcerated to make free calls to family.
If the House goes along and passes the legislation onto Gov.
Ned Lamont, the state will be able to settle complaints about the cost of calls that legislators first raised 20 years ago.
According to a report from CTMirror.org, the state first announced price cuts for prison calls last summer. Advocates griped that the four-cent reduction moved the state from 50th to 45th on a list of prison call affordability.
A private company, Securus Communications, collects all funds for calls made in Connecticut prisons, and some of that money pays for state supervision.
The bill states that free calls could cost the Department of Correction up to $4.5 million in fiscal year 2023.
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