For people in prison, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 brought severe restrictions on contact with the outside world on the grounds of containing the spread of the virus. By 2021, many prisons around the world had resumed some form of in-person visitation and continued the use of technological innovations that has been brought in or expanded to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.
However, as newer strains of the virus emerged and cases spiked, restrictions on contact with the outside world were put in place again or in some cases, had never been lifted. Kenya permitted in-person visitation for the first time in November 2021 after commencing vaccinations. As of November 2021, a ban on prison visits has remained in place in Togo and in Thailand, where limitations like prior permission for visits by lawyers and strict time limits for video calls also remain in place. New outbreaks in Spain led to restrictions on in-person visitation being reimposed and people were locked in their cells for hours without explanation, which caused anxiety and further deterioration of their mental well-being. In South Africa, people in prison with children felt that the restriction on in-person visits to one family member affected their ability to connect with their children.
Restrictions on prison visits have been lifted in some countries and reimposed in others as new outbreaks and variants of COVID-19 emerged.
Common measures which have been sustained in many prisons worldwide since the start of the pandemic, regardless of restrictions, include the increased use of digital tools and phone calls. In Ireland, an average of 1,800 virtual visits were facilitated each week (among a prison population of over 3,700) when physical visits were suspended between March and July 2020. Prisons in Portugal permitted daily phone calls of 5 minutes and a video call of 20 minutes, and women in prisons in Croatia were allowed longer telephone calls with their children. In Mexico, where in-person visits resumed on an appointment basis in March 2021, video and telephone calls have been retained for those who are unable to receive visitors. In an unprecedented move, the province of Buenos Aires in Argentina and seven prisons in Chile permitted people in prison to use their mobile phones for virtual contact with families while visits were suspended.
However, this greater reliance on technological tools has also led to challenges. People in prisons have reported problems with access, such as delayed or limited availability and disruption of phone lines. In Serbia, where people under sentence are entitled to at least four 15-minute phone calls per week, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture noted that certain overcrowded sections had insufficient supply to meet their allocation, such as one section with only two telephones for 147 people. In Brazil, issues with downloading the video calling app, the lack of privacy in overcrowded prisons and the presence of prison officers during calls were common concerns.
Costs of making phone calls from prisons remains a challenge for many detainees.
A lack of accommodations to preserve privacy has also impacted lawyer-client confidentiality. For instance, people detained in federal prisons in the US are subject to electronic monitoring to use emails and refusal to consent results in being locked out of communications. Physical mail is also being phased out as state prisons seek to switch from a paper-based system to digitising mail that can be viewed as a printout or on a tablet.
Moreover, the shift to digital tools to contact lawyers did not always result in improved access to counsel. In India, while close to 94% of prisons are enabled with videoconferencing systems, access to justice during the multiple lockdowns has been limited. For instance, lawyers were reportedly unable to confidentially confer with their clients during hearings – unless the judge permitted a phone call – as other actors were also logged into the videoconferencing system and the individual is typically in the presence of prison staff. In Indonesia, many death penalty trials took place over virtual platforms, leaving defendants unable to fully participate in the process or consult with their counsel.
Many countries employ user-pays phone systems in their prisons, and costs are typically high. In the US, on average, a 15-minute call can cost more than USD $5. In 2021, the Federal Communications Commission set caps on inter-state call charges, but in-state call charges remain excessively high. Prisons in England and Wales reduced the cost of phone calls, provided phone credit and an additional allowance to children, a move that was welcomed but not uniformly implemented across prisons as phone credits ranged from GBP £5-£20. Subsequently, as visiting regimes return, the scheme has been retained only for women as the inability to meet children and families has particularly impacted the mental health of women in prison with rates of self-harm having increased.
Detainees in Kenya, South Africa and Brazil also found themselves lacking in funds to make phone calls as they rely on family, who have been unable to visit, for cash, phone credit and other essentials. Similarly in Turkey, people in prison were permitted to make an additional 10-minute call to their families each week but were not provided with phone cards, and only those with sufficient cash could take advantage of the measure. In Hungary, people in prison were required to provide a security deposit of USD $118 to access a device provided by the prison, in addition to paying higher than general rates to make calls.