** Update: 1400 signatures and counting! Please keep signing and sharing! **

Hello Middlesex constituent!

We are collecting signatures of Middlesex constituents who support No Cost Calls for people who are incarcerated in MA jails and prisons. Because of discrimination in the criminal-legal system, No Cost Calls is a racial and economic justice issue that disproportionately impacts families of color in the Commonwealth.  

While the bill is immensely popular, our politicians have been stalling. This is in large part because of the resistance of our elected sheriffs. This includes our sheriff in Middlesex, Sheriff ›, who is also President of the MA Sheriffs Association. To respond to this resistance, we need to show our elected officials where the will of the people lies: in favor of ending the exploitation of the families in our community.

For more information, please check out this letter signed by more than 100 local organizations (https://www.nclc.org/images/pdf/special_projects/covid-19/MA_Connect_Families.pdf)

We will then share this letter, and send a copy to Sheriff Koutoujian, as well as our Middlesex County legislators and District Attorney. We will share only your first name and last name initial alongside your town name.  

If you are not a constituent of Middlesex, could you pass this along to someone who is? If you are, could you please pass this form on to your neighbors after signing? Thanks!

Please send any questions to Beth Whalley (Watertown) at ewhalley@gmail.com.

___________________
To: Sheriff Koutoujian

CC: Middlesex County Legislators
Senate President Spilka
District Attorney Ryan

Dear Sheriff Koutoujian,
 
We the undersigned residents of Middlesex County urge you in your dual capacity as sheriff of the largest county in Massachusetts and president of the Massachusetts Sheriffs’ Association to withdraw your opposition to S.2846, the bill providing for no cost calls from people in prison and jail. We recognize that as Sheriff you have an outsized voice in discussions with legislators, and we implore you to listen to the wishes of your constituents and stop blocking this important legislation.

This bill is immensely popular: in September, more than 100 organizations signed a letter of endorsement, and in a recent Boston Globe reader poll, an overwhelming 93 percent of respondents supported S. 2846.

The Massachusetts criminal legal system is marred by racial bias, as made clear most recently by Harvard Law School’s Criminal Justice Policy Program. Not only are people in jail and prison more likely than the overall state population to be Black or Brown, but they are also more likely to be lower income or live below the poverty line. This is especially true of people who are held in pretrial detention, many of whom can’t come up with the money to post bail.

Given the over-representation of people of color in jail, staying connected to loved ones is a matter of racial justice, and it is especially urgent right now given the COVID-19 pandemic. With visits shut down, scaled back, or unsafe for loved ones, directly affected people are once again highlighting the importance of no cost calls. As one of our incarcerated sisters notes, “When you are incarcerated you are locked down the majority of the day. Not being able to see or touch your loved one -- that’s your only form of communication. Phone calls are the best way to keep yourself alive.”

Study after study confirms that contact with family and friends is critical for people’s wellbeing and a sensible investment in the Commonwealth’s future. But instead of funding phone calls from legislative appropriations, sheriffs give private for-profit companies monopoly contracts that inflate the cost of calls and then charge the people receiving calls these inflated rates. In most counties, including ours, the cost of a phone call from jail is far higher than the cost of an ordinary phone call or even a call from state prison. Families are being exploited by these arrangements between sheriffs and corporations.

Over the last ten years, sheriffs’ budgets have substantially increased, even as the number of people in jail has significantly decreased. In Middlesex County, for example, from FY2017 to FY2019, the average daily jail population declined by 23 percent from 1,012 to 783. Yet during this same two-year period, the cost of incarceration per person rose from $67,763 to $92,125, a 35 percent increase. In FY2019, Middlesex had almost a 1:1 ratio of staff to people in custody (1 full time employee to 1.19 persons in custody). The fact is, sheriffs are spending more and more every year on staff, increasing payroll and salaries, rather than allocating even 5% of their annual budgets to programs. The Massachusetts Sheriffs Association has proposed cost-saving measures, such as encouraging early retirement for supervisors and not immediately filling every position when someone retires, but has not taken its own advice. Budgets reflect values, and across the Commonwealth sheriffs’ budgets place too little value on funding programs proven to help the people in their custody. Ensuring that families separated by incarceration can stay in touch is the most important “program” of all.

As Middlesex residents, we support policies that lead to decarceration such as diversion and community-based alternatives. No matter what, programs should be the responsibility of the government, because the government has chosen incarceration as a public policy. Programs should not be paid for by families who are already struggling to get by. It’s past time to stop treating poor families of color as a source of revenue.

As residents of Middlesex County, we want our taxes to pay for phone calls, because they are a vital lifeline and a good investment. We urge you to demonstrate leadership and support S.2846 without conditions.
 
Sincerely,

 
NAME, TOWN/CITY