When you’re locked up in prison, talking someone you care about takes on new significance. It may be one of the only things to look forward to. When that lifeline is suddenly cut, both your life and the lives of people waiting for you on the outside can be thrown into freefall. It’s something experienced by many Wisconsin families, forced to navigate often unreliable phone and video services provided by the Department of Corrections (DOC), News From The States reports. “The phone lines do randomly go down for an hour or two at a time,” said Emily Curtis, who knows someone incarcerated in the Stanley Correctional Institution (SCI). “The phones will just randomly hang up on you in the middle of a call, you’ll try to press five to accept the call and it doesn’t work, just things like that — very, very terrible and unreliable service.” Part of an advocacy group called Ladies of SCI, Curtis said that the video services aren’t any better. “Those work maybe 50% of the time, and I’m being generous,” she said.
Even during in-person visits, limitations keep incarcerated people at arm’s length. Families connected to Stanley Correctional said the facility limits hugs and kisses to just a few seconds. Since making in-person visits can be costly and time consuming, remote communication is in high demand. Not only do calls cost money, but the number of phones available are limited. The number of minutes incarcerated people are allowed for calls can be reduced according to the needs of the facility. DOC spokesperson Beth Hardke said that for phone calls, adults are charged 6 cents per minute, while juveniles are charged 1 cent. Although incarcerated people may get four free video visits a month, additional video visits are charged $25 per visit. “Because the number of video visits persons in our care choose to take part in doesn’t meet the minimum set in the contract, DOC is also required to pay a fee for this service,” said Hardke. “So in the calendar year 2023, ICSolutions took in $8.8 million in revenue from phone calls at DOC facilities and paid DOC nearly $5.9 million in commission.”