Photo: Bristol County Sheriff's Office/Facebook
DARTMOUTH, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey is asking for more than $160 million in her supplemental budget for county sheriffs in the state, with a large chunk of that going to cover free phone calls for jail inmates.
The state's no-cost calls law, signed by Healey in 2023, requires calls be free and unlimited for inmates in Massachusetts jails. But, Bristol County Sheriff Paul Heroux thinks unlimited is too much.
"Unlimited is unreasonable, there should be a cap on it," Heroux said.
Heroux said the inmates are often on the phone too long and too often, costing his jail alone $2 million yearly.
"They've swung too far in one direction, whereas they weren't giving any support before, now they're giving too much support," Heroux said.
Heroux suggested limiting calls to somewhere between 15 minutes to an hour per day. He's also had to hire 3 staffers to listen to the inmates' constant conversations to make sure they aren't up to anything they shouldn't be.
Heroux said likes the idea of no-cost calls, which he said helps the inmates stay in touch with their families. The concept is to help ease the transition into society when the inmates are released.
Part of the $2 million cost to the Bristol County Sheriff's Office is due to them being locked in a contract with their phone service provider, the same one that inmates would pay into when they were responsible for the cost of calling. Heroux said they hope to get out of that contract and switch to another service provider to lower the cost.
WBZ NewsRadio’s Chaiel Schaffel (@CSchaffelWBZ) reports.