Phone calls should be a human right. The govt should just make these calls free. We want these folks to be able to connect with family and maintain connection to give them the best chance of integrating back. Charging for phone call is unnecessarily punitive.
When I was locked up in the county jail (charges dropped later) my mother was dying from cancer. I wanted to call her, but it was so insanely expensive ($1.50/min) I could only call for 5 mins a day until she died.
I scheduled a bail hearing due to my mother's illness, but it took months. It was scheduled for a Monday. My mother died on the Saturday. When we got in front of the judge on Monday the prosecutor snapped on the judge, "Judge, what are we even doing here! This is total waste of my time. His mother died already. This issue is moot."
Look at compassionate release laws. 'Technically' the courts are compassionate, but the rules are so Kafkaesque, whatever the reason will have passed before the process is exhausted. No one gets out on compassionate release even though many qualify (say you are the only immediate family/available caregiver of someone incapacitated and/or dying).
