SAN DIEGO–The County Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted a proposal by Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer to stop charging incarcerated individuals to make phone or video calls, making San Diego County the first jurisdiction in the U.S. to ensure free telephone and digital communication in a move applauded by criminal justice advocates, residents and even the author of “Orange Is the New Black.”
“This pandemic has shown how important it is that people are able to communicate with the outside world when they are in isolation. Human connections are just so vital, so making money off families desperate to communicate with a loved one in sheriff’s custody is not how the County should be balancing its budgets,” said Supervisor Lawson-Remer. “Research shows that removing these communication barriers will help people be more successful and thrive after release, resulting in better outcomes for everyone in our region.”
Under the County’s current contract with Securus Technologies Inc., every incarcerated person detained in San Diego County, including juveniles in detention, must pay per minute to place a phone call while in the custody of the sheriff’s department. Calls cost between 21 cents and 33 cents per minute. The current contract also includes charges for related video visitation ($19.95 for 20 minutes) and voice messages ($2 per message).
These fees apply to all individuals awaiting a hearing or sentencing, not just those serving a sentence in the jails. There are approximately 5,000 total individuals in the County’s detention system on any given day. More than 70 percent of individuals are unsentenced.
Piper Kerman, the once-incarcerated author whose memoir was adapted into the award-winning TV show “Orange Is the New Black,” submitted a public comment describing the vote as a “no-brainer.”
“People in jail are usually among the most vulnerable and poorest in the community,” Kerman wrote. “Jail phone calls should NOT be profit centers.”
These costs are a barrier to many families, further separating children from their parents and individuals from potential positive influences in their lives. A 2014 study of communities in fourteen states found that the costs of maintaining contact by telephone or visitation contributed to unsustainable debt burdens for 34 percent of families.
The supervisors heard testimony from many, including Georgina Mercado, a 37-year-old mother of three young children who was arrested in Barrio Logan in 2016. She rarely called her family while jailed because she could not afford the fees, forcing her to consider taking a plea deal so she could communicate with her children again. Charges against her were eventually dropped after witnesses testified to her innocence, but she spent three months in jail until she was exonerated.
The vote directed the County staff to develop a policy by May 4 that prohibits the County from generating operating revenue from these fees and from entering into agreements to charge incarcerated persons for communication services, including telephone, messaging and video visitation.
The board also directed staff to work with the sheriff to develop a communication services program that provides these services at no cost to incarcerated individuals and their families. In the meantime, the County will move to find a contractor that can meet these requirements, as well as identify alternative funding sources to support existing welfare programs for incarcerated people.
