When the cost barrier to communication is removed, families are stronger. 82% of families & 93% of incarcerated people agree free calls help rebuild relationships. This is Finding 3: Stronger Families of our new report. Visit connectfamiliesnow.com/poweroffree.

Nearly half of people in prisons are parents to children, and 18% of those children are four years old or younger. See how free calls help children. This is Finding 4 of our new report: Parenting & Child Development. Visit connectfamiliesnow.com/poweroffree.

76% of incarcerated people, 77% of family members, and all correctional staff reported improvements in stress, emotional stability, or overall wellbeing once calls became free. This is Finding 5 of our new report: Improved Health. Visit connectfamiliesnow.com/poweroffree.

Phones are one of the most volatile places in the prison. With free communication, there's less tension, meaning fewer conflicts and disciplinary infractions. This is Finding 6 of our new report: Calmer & Safer Facilities. Visit connectfamiliesnow.com/poweroffree.

When people can stay connected to those who love them — and imagine a life after incarceration — they’re more likely to invest in their own growth. This is Finding 7 of our new report: Rehabilitation. Visit connectfamiliesnow.com/poweroffree.

Families have already saved more than $622 million thanks to free communication policies in prisons and jails. That's money for groceries, rent, and futures they couldn't plan before. This is Finding 2: Financial Relief of our new report. Visit connectfamiliesnow.com/poweroffree.

Thanks to free calling policies, incarcerated people made nearly 600 million more calls, totaling 6.4 billion mins, than they otherwise would. Call usage jumped 80% in prisons and doubled in jails. This is Finding 1: Increased Connection of our new report. Visit connectfamiliesnow.com/poweroffree.

This is the culmination of 8 years of work, and I couldn’t feel more grateful for what we’ve been able to do at Worth Rise. I remember our first Connecting Families campaign in NYC, and our belief that this was right. Today, the data couldn’t be clearer: free communication changes everything.

Worth Rises@worthrises.bsky.social · 3mo ago

NEW @worthrises.bsky.social REPORT! Critical Connections: The Power of Free Communication in Prisons and Jails We analyzed data from correctional systems that made calls free, covering 330,000 incarcerated people. The results are remarkable. Read the report at connectfamiliesnow.com/poweroffree.

Learn more about the prison system tonight with author and criminal justice advocate Bianca Tylek (@biancatylek.bsky.social @worthrises.bsky.social) as she discusses her book, "The Prison Industry: How It Works and Who Profits" (published @thenewpress.bsky.social) at The Maison Projects.

GOOD NEWS! Private prison GEO Group tried to avoid trial for unjustly withholding wages from immigrant detainees by appealing to SCOTUS, claiming it should be afforded government immunity as a contractor. The Court just UNANIMOUSLY ruled against GEO Group. www.politico.com/news/2026/02...

Supreme Court deals setback to ICE detention contractor in fight over detainee work

The justices denied GEO Group’s bid to toss out a lawsuit claiming prisoners in Colorado were illegally forced to work.

politico.com

Durham & Asheville friends - @biancatylek.bsky.social of Worth Rises is coming to NC this week to discuss her new book, The Prison Industry: How it Works and Who Profits. Join her and special guests on Wednesday in Durham and Thursday in Asheville. Both events are free to attend!

'The Prison Industry' from @biancatylek.bsky.social @worthrises.bsky.social @thenewpress.bsky.social is recommended in our Year in Books by our EIC Andrew Crespo: "In this book, Tylek and Worth Rises offer the movement to end mass incarceration a critically helpful tool."

The Year in Books - Inquest

Inquest staff recommendations of not-to-be-missed decarceral books from 2025.

inquest.org

"Correctional administrators outsource food service to corporations to reduce facility operating costs, with detrimental consequences." @biancatylek.bsky.social @worthrises.bsky.social

Not Fit for Human Consumption - Bianca Tylek & Worth Rises - Inquest

Carceral facilities serve bad food as a way to cut costs. Providing this inhumane service is now a hugely profitable sector of Wall Street.

inquest.org

TAKE ACTION! Elevatus Architecture and Okland Construction have been contracted by Idaho to design a new firing squad execution chamber. Help us demand they withdraw from this contract to stop this before it’s built. THREAD

I don't have words. Idaho is building a chamber for firing squad executions and this is how the architects and contractors are discussing the project. They're accounting for blood drainage and blown out eardrums, but not asking, "why are we doing this?" Who are the monsters now?

Worth Rises@worthrises.bsky.social · 9mo ago

TAKE ACTION! Elevatus Architecture and Okland Construction have been contracted by Idaho to design a new firing squad execution chamber. Help us demand they withdraw from this contract to stop this before it’s built. THREAD

CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION TO @broadbandbreakfast.bsky.social NOW. We just learned that this niche media outlet covering technology, trusted by many, is actually sponsored by Securus, which is currently on a propaganda campaign. They're being paid to platform them and their perspective. Damn shame.

Worth Rises@worthrises.bsky.social · 9mo ago

BREAKING! Predatory prison telecom giant Securus has bought out @broadbandbreakfast.bsky.social. They are now hosting a panel for the industry and have refused to include anyone advocating for incarcerated people. It's shameful paid propaganda parading as neutral media. It’s time to unsubscribe.

If you come to my house on Halloween, kids will get candy and adults will get a candy with a free zine illustrated by @meganpiont.bsky.social

In the U.S., we use prisoners as a source of income for the powerful, because our prison system originated with our chattel slavery system. This rate increase approval is the intentional result of that system, fought for by sheriffs and wardens and state legislators and huge corporations.

Bianca Tylek@biancatylek.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Today was a hard day. Regulations that we passed unanimously last year, after 7 years of advocacy, were largely gutted. The FCC capitulated to the correctional telecom industry in roughly doubling rate caps for prison and jail calls. I'm truly sorry. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/u...

Today was a hard day. Regulations that we passed unanimously last year, after 7 years of advocacy, were largely gutted. The FCC capitulated to the correctional telecom industry in roughly doubling rate caps for prison and jail calls. I'm truly sorry. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/u...

F.C.C. Changes Course on the Price of Prisoners’ Phone Calls

nytimes.com

"Families will have to pay $215 million more to stay connected than anticipated last year, and there’s expected to be two-thirds fewer call minutes between families and their incarcerated loved ones due to the higher rates." @biancatylek.bsky.social @worthrises.bsky.social

Your Call Could Not Be Completed - Bianca Tylek - Inquest

Under Biden, the FCC made unprecedented progress toward ending price gouging for prison phone calls. Tomorrow, Trump’s FCC is expected to undo it all.

inquest.org

Tomorrow, the FCC is set to rollback a large portion of the regulations it passed unanimously with bipartisan support last year. Families will pay $215M more annually than anticipated. Worth Rises ED @biancatylek.bsky.social explains it all in @inquest.bsky.social inquest.org/your-call-co...

Your Call Could Not Be Completed - Bianca Tylek - Inquest

Under Biden, the FCC made unprecedented progress toward ending price gouging for prison phone calls. Tomorrow, Trump’s FCC is expected to undo it all.

inquest.org

To prevent thousands more avoidable deaths, Centurion, Wexford, and Corizon’s deadly, profit-driven “healthcare” practices cannot continue as usual. theharvardpoliticalreview.com/health-care-...

A Healthcare Crisis Behind Bars - Harvard Political Review

Prisoners don’t get to choose their healthcare provider. With no alternatives, it is quite perverse that the only avenue of treatment available to them is one that makes them sicker.

theharvardpoliticalreview.com

This breakdown of the $170B increase in immigration spending to jail and cage people now rivals military budgets of entire countries. “We’re in a dark place,” says @biancatylek.bsky.social. tinyurl.com/45azkrj5

In data: Under Trump, immigration enforcement spending to explode | Context by TRF

More U.S. federal funds are to be spent on immigration enforcement and ICE as part of Trump's crackdown

tinyurl.com

“Private prison needs more bodies to grow. Corporations have no place in any system that claims to be about justice,” @biancatylek.bsky.social on mass detention being treated as business. bit.ly/4g4qrQN

Trump’s Immigrant Gulags: A Bonanza For Private Prison Corporations

When it comes to for-profit, private corporate incarceration of immigrants, making lots of money is like drinking salt water, the more they drink, the thirstier they get. Roman proverbs say that the m...

bit.ly

In GEO Group v. Menocal, a private contractor for ICE is claiming derivative sovereign immunity for allegedly forcing detainees to perform unpaid labor under the threat of punishment, including solitary confinement. #legal www.scotusblog.com/2025/08/the-...

The dissent that became a constitutional amendment

In Dissent is a recurring series by Anastasia Boden on Supreme Court dissents that have shaped (or reshaped) our country.  Please note that the views of outside contributors do not reflect […]

scotusblog.com

People are fighting back and we love to see it! Sure, they lost and this west TN town went forward with ICE and private prison contracts, but this energy is critical right now. FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT. We will win. tennesseelookout.com/2025/08/13/w...

West Tenn. town approves CoreCivic to run immigration detention facility after chaotic meeting • Tennessee Lookout

Officials in the small West Tennessee town of Mason on Tuesday approved a contract with private prison corporation CoreCivic to operate the former West Tennessee Detention Facility as an immigration d...

tennesseelookout.com

The CEO of ICE's data contractor Palantir thinks that people who disagree with him should "suffer". Explains a lot.

Worth Rises@worthrises.bsky.social · 12mo ago

“Palantir gets attacked because we help make this country even better, because we support the values, because we defend it... The people who think we are wrong are not good, have to be a little jealous and suffer.” - CEO of ICE data contractor Palantir www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

“90% detained by ICE are held in privately run facilities, making the private prison industry deeply embedded in the federal immigration detention system” shared @biancatylek.bsky.social as new corporate vendors profit from Trump-backed $45B immigration expansion. bit.ly/4mAYUbO

Private Prison Companies Profit from ICE Raids and Detention under Trump - Davis Vanguard

Bianca Tylek has raised concerns about the expansion of private prison corporations profiting from the Trump administration's immigration enforcement policies, which has led to longer detention period...

bit.ly

Incarcerated people deserve real food–not the inedible, unhealthy meals dished out by million-dollar private corporations cutting corners while people suffer serious health problems. tinyurl.com/4mz5f6z6

State's prison food contract canceled over nutritional deficiencies

Oklahoma’s $74 million deal to privatize food service in state prisons was canceled because the selected vendor failed to meet nutritional standards. Aramark, the sole competing bidder, alleged that T...

alvareviewcourier.com

Some GOOD NEWS for a change! This one is personal — it’s been a long time in the making. Thank you to all those who helped along the way.

Worth Rises@worthrises.bsky.social · last yr.

BREAKING HUGE WIN! 🚨 New York just announced that phone calls will soon be FREE in New York prisons, bringing around $13 million in relief annually to incarcerated people and their families. The new policy is expected to go into effect on August 1st. Spread the news!