Former Prisoners Meet With Families to Plan Support for Those Behind Bars

On October 1st, the Prison Families Community Forum held their monthly meeting at the Center for Constitutional Rights in NYC. Families arrived throughout the meeting to share their stories, their advice, and to give support.

The meeting’s agenda was the “Stop the Contract” campaign, dealing with the practice of MCI charging a 68% tariff on collect calls made by inmates in prison, considerably higher than the the civilian rates. Collect calls are the only means to contact people via the telephone from prison.

In addition to petitioning directly Governor George Pataki and Glenn Goord, the Commissioner of the Dept. of Correctional Services, they are taking advantage of their grassroots structure to promote their cause on the ground. On October 21, they are having a “Launch Celebration” at the National Black Theatre for their campaign.