New York will soon be the first major city in the US to provide phone calls from jail, for free. Bill de Blasio signed a bill into law recently that will take effect in about 9 months. Up until this goes into effect, calls generally cost 50 cents for one minute and 5 more for each minute that follows.
This change is part of a national push by activists, public defenders, and prisoners’ families to limit private companies from profiting off incarceration. Many of the people occupying the city’s jails have not been convicted of a crime, and are waiting for a trial, and many can’t afford to pay extra for phone calls.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/06/nyregion/phone-calls-free-nyc-jails.html
