Massachusetts Sheriffs: Free Inmate Calls Cost Taxpayers Millions

In Massachusetts, inmates in state and county correctional facilities can make unlimited free phone calls under a law that went into effect on December 1, 2023.

With the stroke of her pen, Democrat Governor Maura Healey made Massachusetts the fifth state in the nation to eliminate fees for prison and jail phone calls. The free jail call policy also covers video calls and email.

Citing a report by Boston Public Broadcasting Station (PBS) WGBH, Prison Phone Justice noted that "incarcerated individuals and their families were often forced to choose between paying for calls and meeting basic needs."

The report stated, "Advocates noted that the financial burden disproportionately affected the families of Black and Latino prisoners and detainees, who make up more than half of the state's incarcerated population."

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Democrat Bristol County Sheriff Paul Heroux and many of his colleagues who supported the initiative appear to be expressing some degree of buyer's remorse.

Free things are never truly free. Someone has to pay for them. Whether it be free tuition, bus rides, school lunches or inmate phone calls, taxpayers ultimately are handed the bill.

Recently, Heroux and several other Massachusetts Sheriff's climbed Beacon Hill to complain, according to the State House News Service (SHNS), about the "bulging costs" and "heightened demand on correctional officers to monitor those communications."

SHNS says the law that allows for "no-cost calls at county and state correctional facilities has cost sheriffs' offices $12.5 million so far in fiscal 2025."

Norfolk County Sheriff Patrick McDermott, president of the Massachusetts Sheriffs' Association, reportedly told lawmakers, "We have seen a spike in gang coordination attempts, attempts at fake account creations, and even family disruptions, sometimes involving children," since the free call policy took effect.

Though he still supports the law, Heroux told lawmakers unlimited phone calls are "unreasonable."

Heroux told lawmakers, "A lot of times, inmates are now talking on the phone when they would have been doing programming."

"You also have a correlation with an increase in witness intimidation and increase in drug dealing coordination," according to Heroux.

Healey has recommended $15 million to fund the free phone call initiative in her fiscal 2026 budget proposal.