campaigns
Are you currently running or thinking about starting a Connecting Families campaign in your community? You don’t have to start from scratch. Based on years of advocacy, we’ve created practical resources to help organizers and advocates win free prison and jail communication campaigns where they live.
LEGISLATIVE CAMPAIGN MAP
Building on recent wins, there is a growing number of Connecting Families campaigns around the country. Check out the campaigns and take action. Let’s continue building the momentum.
Active campaign for free communication
Free communication across all facilities
Free phone calls across state prisons
Free communication awaiting implementation
Federal Regulation
After years of advocacy by impacted families, the FCC finally took action — only for courts to rule it had overstepped its authority. In 2022, Congress responded by passing the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act, named for a grandmother who had long been fighting to stay connected with her incarcerated grandson. With robust bipartisan support, the Act expanded the regulatory authority of the FCC over the correctional telecom industry and mandated the agency issue regulations.
In response, in 2024, the FCC released robust new regulations. The proposed regulations passed unanimously and were estimated to save families impacted by incarceration over $525 million a year. Among other things, the new regulations roughly halved rate caps, banned commissions, and prohibited the pass through of surveillance costs through rates.
Then suddenly, in 2025, in a move that reprioritized special interests and ignored the law and will of Congress, the FCC partially reversed the rules, clawing back much-needed relief from millions of families.
Martha Wright Reed desperately wanted to support her grandson in federal prison, but he was too far for her to visit, calls were too expensive, and her vision was too impaired for her to write. Ms. Wright Reed went to the FCC in 2010 to urge regulation of the free-for-all in the correctional telecom industry that was driving families like hers apart.
PAST WINS
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New York
In July 2025, New York was the first state to make all prison and jail communication free administratively. It is the sixth state to make prison phone calls free. The policy was put into effect in August 2025 with unlimited calling and will save more than 30,000 incarcerated people and their families in New York over $13 million annually.
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Massachusetts
In August 2023, Massachusetts passed precedent legislation to make all prison and jail communication free. It is the fifth state to make prison calls free, the second to make all prison communication free, and the first to extend the same policy over all local jails. The policy will save Massachusetts families over $25 million annually.
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Los Angeles
In May 2021, Supervisor Hilda Solis introduced a motion to provide free phone calls in LA County jails. The Board passed it unanimously, but implementation stalled. In July 2023, a similar motion with clearer language again passed, requiring free jail calls by December 2023.
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Colorado
In May 2023, Colorado passed legislation to make all prison calls free, making it the third state to do so. The legislation has a three-year graduated implementation timeline. The implementation was then pushed back one year to July 2026. When fully implemented, the legislation will save families more than $9 million annually.
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Minnesota
In May 2023, Minnesota passed legislation to make all prison calls free, making it the fourth state to do so. The legislation was implemented quickly in July 2023 and is expected to save families $4.5 million annually.
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Federal Regulations
In December 2022, Congress passed the Martha Wright Reed Just and Reasonable Communication Act to affirm the FCC’s regulatory authority over all prison and jail calls and grant authority over video calls for the first time. In June 2024, the FCC, under Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, issued the most significant regulations, expected to save families more than $525 million annually.
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California
In September 2022, California passed legislation to make all prison calls free, making it the second state to do so. The legislation was quickly implemented in January 2023 with unlimited calling and will save California families over $33 million annually.
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Miami-Dade County, Florida
In April 2022, Miami-Dade County voted 9-2 to make jail communication free after more than a year of organizing, advocacy, and negotiations. This legislation, which went into effect in early 2026, will save Miami families an estimated $6.8 million every year.
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Connecticut
In June 2021, Connecticut passed legislation making it the first state to make all prison communication free! The bipartisan bill affords every incarcerated person 90 minutes of call time per day. The legislation went into effect on July 2022 and saves families over $14 million annually!
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San Diego
In March 2021, Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer introduced a motion to make all jail communication free. The Board passed the policy in 5-0 unanimous and bipartisan vote. The new policy went into effect in July 2021, saving families roughly $4 million every year.
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Federal Bureau of Prisons
The CARES stimulus bill made all phone and video calls free in federal prisons during the COVID-19 pandemic. People in federal prison received 500 minutes of calls for roughly two years. We continue to fight to make prison communication free in the federal system permanently.
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San Francisco
In June 2019, after months of advocacy, Mayor London Breed announced that San Francisco would make jail phone calls free! The new policy was codified in law shortly after and went into effect in August 2020, resulting in more than $1 million in savings for families every year.
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New York City, New York
In July 2018, advocates successfully passed legislation to make all calls free from NYC jails! The law went into effect in May 2019, saving communities $10 million annually and opening lines of communication for thousands.
