Photo by Eve Abrams A vote today will decide whether prisoners’ families will pay an estimated 35 percent less for calls placed from Louisiana lockups. Current rates are 15 times the cost of a normal phone service in Louisiana. The five-member Public Service Commission is slated to vote on the issue during their monthly 9 […]
Author Archives: Katy Reckdahl
Katy Reckdahl is The Lens’ managing editor. Reckdahl was a staff reporter for The Times-Picayune and the alt-weekly Gambit before spending a decade as a freelancer, writing frequently for the New Orleans Advocate | Times-Picayune, The New York Times and the Washington Post.
She’s received more than two-dozen first-place New Orleans Press Club awards, the James Aronson Award for social justice reporting, a Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism and three TV-documentary Emmy Awards. In 2020, she was a producer for The Atlantic’s Peabody Award-winning podcast, Floodlines.
Posted inCriminal Justice, Investigations
State PSC considers lowering ‘sinful’ prison phone rates
Fannie McKnight can no longer accept phone calls from her son. It’s a decision she made with a heavy heart. After he was booked into Orleans Parish Prison, McKnight, 72, deposited money into a phone account that was debited every time they talked. But because the per-minute rates were so high, the account emptied faster than […]