Prison Voicemail: Messages from behind bars

The Photo Patch Foundation helps connect children with parents who are experiencing incarceration. Using its website or mobile app, children can write letters and upload photos, which will then be printed and mailed by the organization at no cost. The Foundation, funded by donations and grants, was created by a father-daughter duo who had experienced the issue firsthand.

A free mobile app called Ameelio opens a free channel of communication between incarcerated people and their families, to avoid the price-gouging telephone services that prisons and jails authorize to charge people exorbitant rates to talk. Ameelio's app makes sending letters with photos easier than doing it by snail mail. Nonprofits can also use the free service to communicate with clients. Ameelio, which is supported by donations and grants, is piloting a video-conferencing service.

To alleviate the isolating effects of COVID-19 restrictions in prisons barring outside visitors, some prisons have encouraged phone and video contact with family by waiving the fees normally charged for such services. In Utah, the first 10 calls per week are free. Federal prisons have waived the charges entirely. Maintaining healthy family relationships has been shown to relieve prisoners' loneliness and anxiety, which equates to better behavior. And it reduces future lawbreaking by strengthening bonds that help in finding housing and jobs once the prisoners are released.

As Argentine went into strict quarantine in March 2020 and prison rules got stricter, the Court of Appeals in the Province of Buenos Aires allowed the use of cellphones to inmates to ease some of their isolation. It is one of four provinces that legally implemented this measure to last the span of COVID restrictions, but the ruling is still in place and has allowed inmates to keep in touch with loved ones, study, learn new skills, use digital payments, and even participate in virtual protests,

Prison visiting rooms provide an irreplaceable connection between incarcerated people and their family and friends from outside prison. The in-person visits, despite the many rules that complicate the simple act of conversation, offer a grounding in what's happening in the lives they left behind, along with opportunities to have an intense dialogue about past mistakes and regrets. Interviews produced inside San Quentin Prison reveal the mixed blessing of video visits, the only form of contact for a year during the pandemic.

Millions of families of arrested individuals do not know what to do to help, how to obtain a lawyer, or what the process entails in the court system. Created by Albert Cobarrubius Justice Project, participatory defense is a type of community organizing that teaches and empowers people who face criminal charges. Individuals know how to work with attorneys in order to navigate the system and ultimately feel equipped to become drivers of their own change.

Project Avary is a free summer camp founded in 1999 for children of incarcerated parents that combats the isolation this population experiences by bringing them together. Through outdoor activities, skills workshops, and structured peer bonding, the program serves roughly 150 children each year. Its intergenerational mentorship model also turns alumni into counselors, creating a self-reinforcing cycle of support across generations.

Via legislative efforts, six U.S. prison systems and dozens of jails have made phone calls free for incarcerated people (with governments paying providers instead of families). This has resulted in 600 million additional calls, 6.4 billion more call minutes, over $620 million in savings for families, and improved mental health, family connections, and prison environments.

A rural village has instituted several WhatsApp groups to communicate and help find children when they go missing. Each ward has a WhatsApp group and a system in place to care for children until they are reunited with their families, all for free. From January 2024 to May, over 20 missing children have been found and reunited with their families.

The HeyKiddo app and educational curriculum allow parents and teachers to access information and activities that help develop students’ social and emotional health and empathy, teach them how to make responsible decisions and maintain healthy relationships. Over 500 families currently use the app and the portion for teachers, called The Huddle, is used in a handful of schools in California, with plans to expand.