An incarcerated person makes a phone call at the York Community Reintegration Center in Niantic, Conn. Starting Aug. 1, New York will offer free phone calls in state prisons, becoming the sixth state to do so — and the first to enact the policy without legislation. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
New York began offering free phone calls to people incarcerated in its state prisons on Aug. 1, becoming the sixth state to do so.
The change is projected to save roughly 30,000 families across the state an estimated $13.3 million per year in phone call fees, according to Worth Rises, a nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to dismantling the prison industry…