The mental health of prisoners and their families

 

I saw this tweet in an article posted by the online news company, Canadaland. The article exposes how Bell charges "astronomical" rates when prison inmates phone their family and friends.  One twenty-minute phone call can cost up to $30 - a cost that must be paid by the friend or family member on the outside.  These costs can add up quickly: the article referenced one mother who was charged $6000 in phone bills during the three months when her son was in jail.  The high costs of phone calls is damaging to the  mental health of incarcerated people and their loved ones because it makes it hard for people to stay in touch.  The original tweet was posted by the Toronto Prisoners' Rights Project, which is an organisation that advocates for the rights of prisoners.

The main point of the tweet - and the article - was to expose how Bell is acting in a contradictory way when it comes to mental health.  Bell runs a very public campaign, called #BellLetsTalk, to fight the stigma of mental illness.  At the same time, Bell contributes to mental health problems by charging phone rates that make it difficult for prisoners to stay in touch with their loved ones.

This tweet suggests that Bell (and society more broadly?) treats people in prison and their loved ones as somehow less deserving of good mental health.    The Toronto Prisoners' Rights Project argues that Bell shouldn't be allowed to exploit people just because one of their loved ones is in jail.

As I read this article, I realised how little I know about the criminal justice system in Canada.  No one close to me has been in jail, so I was unaware that phone calls with inmates were so expensive.  I couldn't help but think "if more people were aware of this situation, would there be a change?"