New York mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday passed a bill waiving off charged for making phone calls from jail. The act came into effect after being passed last year by the city council.
"For too long have people in custody faced barriers to basic aspects of everyday life that can help create more humane jails. With free phone calls, we're ... ensuring that people in custody have the opportunity to remain connected to their lawyers, families and support networks that are so crucial to re-entry into one's community," CNN quoted Blasio, as saying.
Under the new rule, inmates can make free calls totaling 21 minutes every three hours to anywhere in the United States.
Inmates were previously charged 50 cents for the first minute of a phone call and 5 cents for every additional minute. Earlier, detainees were allowed three calls a week and those sentenced got two calls a week.
-Sangam Sowmya