Toronto Prisoners' Rights Project

In 2013, @Bell and the Ministry of Correctional Services signed a contract giving Bell control over the phones in Ontario prisons. The contract expires around the end of this month. Though the Ministry and Bell work hard to cover up the details, here’s what we know so far:

(For those keeping score at home, that’s 20 #BellLetsTalk tweets for a one-minute call, 100 tweets for five minutes, and 1200 for an hour. Long-distance calls, even within the province, will require more tweeting.)

-Calls can only be made to landlines – LANDLINES! – meaning people in prisons can’t even call cell phones. Fewer than 2/3 of Ontarians have landlines. If your family doesn’t have a landline, you’re out of luck.

-@Bell profits directly from the phone call costs, and the Ministry receives a kickback. That means both Bell and the government are gouging families trying to contact their loved ones and people reaching out to friends, then splitting the profits.

We already know who gets sent to prison. BIPOC are overrepresented in the prison population. Same with people in poverty. That’s what happens when settler-colonial capitalism is at the helm. They’re the ones who bear the worst of this. They’re the ones @Bell exploits for profit.

What does this have to do with mental health? For all @Bell says about “talking about mental health” and “ending the stigma,” thousands of people inside prisons literally *cannot* talk to their friends and family when they’re experiencing a crisis or mental health issues.

In 2017, Cleve Geddes committed suicide in an Ottawa prison after trying to reach out during a mental health crisis. He was unable to contact his support system via phone. In 2018, a coroner’s inquest into his death made the following recommendation:

“[The Ministry] should ensure that the phone system…is changed to make it easier for inmates to make outgoing phone calls. Specifically, the phones available to inmates should be able to call cell phones and should not make only collect calls.” https://www.mcscs.jus.gov.on.ca/english/Deathinvestigations/Inquests/Verdictsandrecommendations/OCCInquestGeddes2018.html …

It’s been over a year since the recommendation and nothing has changed – not for @Bell, not for the Ministry, and not for those in prison.

It’s no secret that prisons take a toll on mental health. Many people in prisons live with mental health challenges or develop them due to prison conditions. There is no such thing as a prison that is “good” or even “adequate” for the mental health of those inside.

So why does @Bell, a company that promotes themselves through mental health initiatives, contribute to these conditions and make it so much harder for those in prison to get help? What use is #BellLetsTalkDay if Bell is making things worse the other 364 days of the year?

The Prison Phone Contract is set to expire this month. We call on @Bell and the Ministry to put an end to profiteering and let prisoners make FREE, DIRECT phone calls - no more worrying about who they can call and how much it will cost.

If @Bell won’t stop exploiting prisoners – and Black, Indigenous, racialized, and impoverished communities as a result – and contributing to the prison industrial complex, we call on the Ministry to find a service provider who will.

.@Bell, if you want to show us you truly care about "talking” about mental health, you can start by ending this inaccessible phone contract. Otherwise, it’s clear to all of us that what you actually care about is profit.

So please, on behalf of all of us who care about mental health, about healing, about stigma, about the friends and family we can’t contact: @Bell, LET US TALK.

Thank you everyone for reading/sharing. With the Prison Phone Contract expiring and Bell Let's Talk Day this month, we ask you all to tweet @Bell demanding free and direct phone calls for prisoners, in solidarity with those inside. Let's show them that people > profit, always.

If you'd like to learn more, @CPEPgroup's most recent quarterly report is an in-depth study of the prison phone system in Ontario, complete with references and data. You can find the full PDF here: https://cp-ep.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Ontario-Jail-Telephone-Report_JAIL-Hotline_Final_October-2019.pdf …

We hear your anger and your want for action. How can you do something about this? Tweet at @SylviaJonesMPP @ONSafety and @Bell @Bell_LetsTalk. Call on them to end the Prison Phone Contract, from which they jointly-profit at expense of prisoners and their families.

If the @ONsafety @SylviaJonesMPP decides to end their contract with @Bell in favour of another service provider, remember that our calls to action still apply. Get in touch with your MPP. Tell them we want free, direct calls for people in prison NOW.