It was a progressive masterstroke: give Massachusetts inmates unlimited, free phone calls. What could go wrong? Two years and $12.5+ million taxpayer dollars later, the answer is: plenty.

Gov. Maura Healey signed a bill into law in late 2023 that requires the state Department of Correction and all state sheriffs’ offices to provide inmates with access to computer tablets and phone calls, free of charge to both the person initiating and receiving the communication. The idea was not without some merit.

“No cost calls will alleviate the financial burden and remove barriers for an individual in MA DOC custody to stay connected with their outside support system,” former DOC Commissioner Carol Mici said in a statement at the time Healey started the program. “Strong family support helps to advance the rehabilitative process, reduces recidivism, and contributes to successful reentry upon release.”

But talk, as it turns out, isn’t cheap.

Bristol County Sheriff Paul Heroux has said that the so-called “No Cost Communications” program cost taxpayers about $12.5 million for all sheriffs’ offices across the state last fiscal year, including about $2 million at the jail he oversees in southeastern Massachusetts.

Those calls are free to inmates and their families and associates on the outside, but not to taxpayers. The state takes pains to illustrate how President Trump’s funding cuts are impacting Bay Staters, but programs like the prison phone bill spendathon shouldn’t be let off the hook.

While the phone bills are up, inmate participation in state-funded re-entry programs are down.

Heroux has pointed out the “unintended consequences” of the law, including how some inmates in Bristol County have talked on the phone “so much” that they’ve decided to forgo various programming.

Which defeats the purpose of the “rehabilitative support” all those free phone calls were supposed to bolster.

And not everyone is using that phone call to check in with Ma back home. The Bristol County jail, Heroux has said, has also seen an increase in witness intimidation, violations of restraining orders, and opportunities for inmates to “plan criminal activity.”

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that some people sentenced to prison for criminal activity will continue to pursue criminal activity.

The Department of Correction use to charge 12 cents per minute for calls, while county jails charged 14 cents per minute. Whoever received the call would be charged.

Yes, there are inmates who benefit from calls to their families and support systems outside prison and who use these calls as a way to connect to home and community on the road to a better life once they’re out. Children should be able to contact their incarcerated parents; they are innocent in all this.

But a $12.5M yearly phone bill is too much for taxpayers, and the program needs an overhaul.

Heroux is teaming up with state Rep. Adam Scanlon, a North Attleboro Democrat, on legislation that would provide inmates a minimum of 15 minutes of calls, but no more than 60 minutes, each day, while allowing discretion on the duration of calls at correctional facilities.

“The current system, with unlimited calls, has created unsustainable costs for county sheriffs and taxpayers,” said Scanlon.

Dial it back.

Editorial cartoon by Steve Kelley. (Creators Syndicate)