The Bell Let’s Talk Campaign has proven to be controversial. Human rights advocates, who defend inmates serving time, argue that restrictions of phone calls within prisons decreases communication between convicts and their family, which hurts their mental health. What does this have to do with the campaign? Well, the organizers of the campaign, Bell Canada, decided to donate a nickle on January 29th to non-profit mental health organizations everytime someone used the hashtag #BellLetsTalk. Sounds easy, right? Here is where it gets tricky.
Initiatives
It is a fact that the Bell company has been raising money on mental health awareness for the past nine years (since 2011). However, they have been known to destroy mental health as well since 2013, according to the folks behind the Toronto Prisoners’ Rights Project. About seven years ago, Bell Canada signed a contract with the Ministry of Correctional Services. Said contract gave Bell control over phones in Ontario’s prisons.
In order to make a profit, these companies chose to turn these calls into collect calls. The person on the other end has to pay $1/minute. And since it’s a phone call, the costs (and minutes) obviously add up quickly. To make matters even worse, phone calls can only be made to landlines. Who the heck in Canada has landlines in 2020? Only two-thirds of people in Ontario.
Practice What You Preach…Not
Bell Canada benefits explicitly from these collect calls and the Ministry definitely gets a cut. As a result, those in prison, especially the inmates who can’t afford legal help, find themselves between a rock and a hard place. All due to not being able to call their loved ones whenever those incarcerated would experience a mental health crisis. Now here comes the issue.
Bell Canada does not practice what they preach. You see, Bell has no issue spreading the importance of mental health, while inmates are incapable of affording phone calls. Hypocritically ironic, if you ask me. The consequences, on the other hand, are heinous. This was best seen through a site called The Sun Online; they explained that an Ontario inmate, Cleve Geddes, committed suicide after being unable to call his family during his crisis back in 2017. Mainly because his depression worsened within the walls of his cell. Depression that could have been prevented if he could call his support system.
He Wasn’t The Only One
According to Now Toronto, an inmate by the name of Moka Dawkins claims that her family was being charged $300 to $500 per month in collect fees. She said:
“It was difficult for my family to be there for me in the most devastating time in my life because the phone bill was too high. Depression plays a really strong role behind those walls and it leads to suicidal thoughts, especially when you can’t reach people you need the most like your family or your lawyer.”
As stated by By Dr. Liji Thomas, MD, researchers consider a prison as “a powerhouse of mental problems.” Those who go to prison with mental issues are likely to worsen. While those who go without them, tend to develop mental illnesses while in jail. Prisons are notorious for dehumanizing the existence of prisoners. In this case, they are being controlled by entities who don’t have their best interests at heart just to end up to being trapped again at the end of the day. That’s enough to destroy anybody: guilty, innocent, mentally insane, or not.
Back To Bell
Bell and the Canadian government’s contract expires soon. Afterwards, inmates will get the chance to make phone calls at reasonable prices.
Monte Vieselmeyer, correctional officer and active member of the Corrections Division of the Ontario Public Service Workers Union (OPSEU), believes that “anything that creates less hostility within the range, so everyone has access to what they need and when they need it, improves everyone’s mental health.”
And he is right, I just don’t think the government should wait that long. The world doesn’t need anymore losses. The Toronto Prisoners’ Rights Project agrees as well, as they call out Bell Canada’s greed and urges them to change. Hopefully they will listen.
