NY: "soon, no one will be cut off from their family..."

Good news for New York prisoners and their families, from Newsday:

Spitzer orders high prisoner collect-call fees to end

A $3 surcharge on collect calls made by prisoners to their families was eliminated by the Spitzer administration Monday...

Spitzer: Prison calls' cost to drop

New York families who regularly get phone calls from loved ones behind bars were ecstatic yesterday when Gov. Eliot Spitzer announced that calls from prisons will soon be a lot cheaper. Spitzer said he is eliminating a "tax" that hikes the cost of the collect calls and gives the state a 58 percent kickback on the cost of each call...

And from DMI Blog:

Spitzer overturns controversial Pataki-era policy: no more excessive phone charges for families calling their incarcerated loved ones

"As a public defender in the Bronx, I have seen time and time again the role that maintaining contact with a loved one while he or she is in prison plays in reducing recidivism rates and in the general health of families and communities..."