Summary

Directs the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to contract for pay phones to be made available to prisoners on a monitored basis.

Background

Recent spikes in the discovery of cell phones smuggled into prisons /See here and here/ have highlighted the lack of communication options for prisoners. Prisoner rights groups have complained extensively about the high price of collect calls in prisons, while civil rights activists have raised the concern such high costs may limit prisoners access to counsel

Political Context

This bill is similar in intent to but different in specific detail from HB 43. Among other differences, HB 1888 requests a contracted payphone be able to track prisoner calling patterns.

Additional Links

Grits supporting issue of providing phones to prisoners.