Disrespectful Phone Usage Creates Hostility in Prison

 I have never seen phone lines in prison like I have seen in the last few months. When prisons are running normally, prisoners have things to do. They go to classes, spend time in the gym and yard, work jobs, have visits, go to medical appointments, and generally stay "busy." But with all the restrictions on what prisoners can do during the Covid era, there has been little else to do but spend time on the phone. And some prisoners have taken advantage of that in spades. 

The wait for an open phone, during normal prison operations, might be 10-15 minutes. People cycle on and off the phone, while only one or two prisoners make more than one 15-minute call. Now, wait times average two hours. It is not uncommon to see several prisoners on the phone for hours at a time. These prisoners might spend two hours in the morning, another two hours in the afternoon, and yet again in the evening. Honestly, I don't know what they could possibly have to talk about for so long. Prison life really doesn't change much from day to day. 

Phone calls aren't free either, so some of these prisoners are running up hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in phone bills. And they aren't paying for their calls. They make them collect (I've heard rumors of stolen credit cards paying for those phone calls). Staying connected to loved ones is tremendously important in prison, but there are limits to what is rational. 

The biggest problem I have with prisoners staying on the phone for hours at a time is not their motives or the costs. It is the complete disregard for other prisoners who also want to use the phone. Staying on the phone for hours at a time is disrespectful to other prisoners because it keeps them from being able to make their phone calls. 

But length of calls is not the only disrespectful behavior some of these prisoners have. Some groups of guys, usually gang members, completely ignore the phone lines, passing the phone from one group member to another. I have seen the next person waiting for an open phone wait for over an hour, after waiting even longer further back in line, while a phone is passed from gang member to gang member. Confronting the issue only results in fights, so most prisoners just stuff their frustrations. 

Prisoners are supposed to police themselves. That means we use community pressure to stop or curb bad behavior (like passing the phone off to someone not in line). The problem is, prison policies have us handcuffed on both ends. On one hand, officers do nothing about the problem and adminstrators refuse to set time restrictions on phone usage. On the other hand, communal pressure often results in fights, and prisoners are now held financially liable for any resulting medical bills. 

The grievance process and Warden's forum are supposed to be avenues to address issues like these. But the grievance process is completely broken. Staff members don't even pretend to attempt to fairly resolve issues raised in grievances. The Warden's forum is not much better. For example, a recent request for more phones to alleviate the phone line pressure received a response of, "The service provider will not install more phones due to low volume of use." Seriously? I haven't seen an empty phone in our unit in months. From 6:15 in the morning until well after 11:30 at night, there is a long line to use the phone (except during count times).

Until Covid restrictions are lifted, I don't see this dynamic changing. Unfortunately, that means some of us who still work and go to school are screwed out of the opportunity to talk on the phone with those we love.