Chicago Best Criminal Defense Lawyer Michael Leonard Explains how Martha Wright-Reed Act Benefits Detainees. Anyone who represents defendants in the State or Federal courts know about the ridiculously high prices regularly charged by jails and prisons. Those prices often have a direct and significant impact on those detained. That impact oftentimes includes the inability of those detained to consistently and meaningfully communicate with their families, friends, and loved ones. In turn, such lack of communication can lead or contribute to helplessness, hopelessness, and mental health issues. In addition, I personally find that this leads to a breakdown in the detainee’s willingness to fight his or her case, and to adopt a “get it over” with mentality.
However, a step in the right direction was recently undertaken by Congress and President Biden. Earlier this month, the Martha Wright-Reed “Just and Reasonable Communications Act” was passed. This important legislation serves to amend the federal Communications Act of 1934 to require the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) to ensure “just and reasonable charges for . . . any audio or video communications service used by inmates for the purpose of communicating with individuals outside the correctional institution where the inmate is held, regardless of technology used.”
Let’s hope that Congress, as well as State legislatures, continue to consider and pass similar legislation to address the well-documented and obvious price gouging that routinely takes place across the land, in Federal and State jails and prisons, in connection with commissary and all other fees that are imposed upon detainees.
Michael Leonard
Leonard Trial Lawyers
January 24, 2025