When a prisoner calls home to talk to his mother, son, or daughter, that call costs his family about 15 times more than it would if the same number were dialed outside the prison walls. These costs vary from one jail to the next, but every Louisiana prison receives a hefty kickback from the collect phone calls inmates make simply to stay in touch with their friends and families.
The Louisiana Public Service Commission met on Thursday to vote on reducing these heavily inflated costs by 35%. WWNO's Eve Abrams and The Lens' Katy Reckdahl looked into the financial burden families bear just to hear from the people they love.