Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont’s proposed two-year budget would eliminate free electronic messaging services for those held in Department of Correction custody.
“Funding is eliminated for subsidized electronic tablets and messaging,” reads a “recommended adjustment” in the Democratic governor’s biennial budget released Wednesday. “Inmates currently pay for expanded services on these devices and this reduction would place the entire costs associated with the devices on those users.”
The budget document purports that the move would save the state $3.5 million a year.
“Free telephone communications remain available to incarcerated individuals,” the budget proposal reads.
Still, advocates for the incarcerated say the move would hinder their ability to communicate with those outside corrections facilities.
“I’m stunned,” said Barbara Fair, a criminal justice reform advocate who runs the organization Stop Solitary CT.
Fair said the e-messaging services are a vital lifeline, especially when incarcerated people don’t always have access to working phones.
“It's something that makes it easier for people to communicate and in a quicker format,” Fair said. “Say some emergency was going on, they could immediately email their loved ones. So for that to be the first thing that gets put on the chopping block is just crazy to me.”
State Rep. Josh Elliott, a Hamden Democrat who championed free telecommunications for the incarcerated with legislation in 2021, said Thursday he would be fighting the governor’s proposal.
“This is how I would say a large contingent of the population predominantly communicates, so it’s very important,” Elliott said. “I think having it be as open and accessible as possible is going to be the priority.”
Elliott said he and state Sen. Gary Winfield, a New Haven Democrat who co-chairs the General Assembly’s Judiciary Committee, were in agreement on fighting to maintain the free service. Winfield’s office did not respond to an interview request for this story.
‘A massive step backwards’
Mike Wessler, communications director for the Massachusetts-based criminal justice thinktank Prison Policy Initiative, said he was “shocked” to hear of Lamont’s proposal.
“I honestly can't recall a circumstance where a state moved towards making [prison communication] services less accessible in the last 10 years,” Wessler said. “Connecticut was among the leaders in the nation by providing free e-messaging to people who are incarcerated, and this would be a massive step backwards.”
Wessler said research shows that the more accessible communication is for incarcerated people and loved ones, the more successful they are when they return to life outside prison walls. Removing free access to e-messaging, he said, would make success less likely.
“It’s going to make it more likely that people will end up back behind bars because they can't overcome all the challenges that are thrown their way when they're released from prison,” Wessler said.
“Budgets are both moral documents and they’re policy documents. And I really think a step like this fails on both fronts,” Wessler said. “In a moral sense, I think it fails because it's just trying to raise revenue off of the backs of some of the people who can least afford it. And then on the policy front, it really fails, because there are so many benefits to maintaining strong family connections for incarcerated people. I think it's hard to justify this on a moral or policy front.”
The governor’s office acknowledged the important role communication with the outside plays in the wellbeing of people behind bars.
“The administration believes it is necessary for incarcerated individuals to be able to communicate with family, which is why the DOC operates several methods for this communication to occur, including free phone calls,” Lamont spokesperson David Bednarz said in a statement.
Wessler said free phone calls are important, but free e-messaging meets other needs.
“It allows instantaneous communication throughout the day with their loved one,” Wessler said. “It means that their loved one, who may be working a job and might not be able to answer a phone call, can still get the message. It allows for the sending of photos and things of that nature that you can't transmit over a phone line.”
The Lamont administration said high prices were the main factor in the proposal to eliminate free e-messaging.
“This text messaging system has a considerable cost, and other communication systems are more affordable,” Bednarz’s statement said. “Those communication systems will remain and incarcerated individuals will continue to have contact with their families.”
Keeping in contact
Ivelisse Correa, vice president of advocacy group BLM860, said she’s been a regular user of the free e-messaging service to communicate with friends and loved ones in custody. She said it’s a primary form of contact for those inside and allows for more rapid communication with a greater number of loved ones than phone calls can.
“Not only do you get to keep in touch, you get to tell people you love them,” Correa said. “It’s just nice. I'm a person that sends a lot of mundane stuff, so sometimes it's just your daily horoscope, things that we used to do together on the outside. I have one person that we send each other Bible verses back and forth.”
Correa thinks cutting off free messaging would make the service inaccessible to many incarcerated people. That would be a problem for those who use the service for both mundanities and more important matters.
“Sometimes it's saying, ‘Hey, I'm having this problem. Can you please reach out to someone to help me get medical care?’ Unfortunately, that's one of the few ways to advocate for yourself,” Correa said.
“I don't see this being a good thing at all,” she said. “I can't see this improving behavior. I can't see this improving mental health. Less communication with the outside and with loved ones isn't beneficial at all.”
