I've been following this kind of issue with communications costs imposed on prisoners for a while. I have a piece of an idea to address part of this, but I'm missing some guidance in a couple of areas. Most importantly, I'm interested in hearing from those that have spent time in prison to know if this idea is even worth pursuing.

For someone incarcerated, would you find value if there was a radio station you could tune into (with your legally issued prison AM/FM radio) that would play recordings from family members of those incarcerated? Essentially recorded letters read by the family member that wrote it, "vocal letters". Its a broadcast, so the letter author would have to be selective about what they talk about because anyone in range of the radio station would be able to her it. However, it would also be zero cost to the family member and to the incarcerated inmate and effectively zero limits to how many vocal letters your family could make and that you would be able to hear.

Is that something that would be valuable to you as an incarcerated person?

As a former incarcerated person: no... and hell no... no one would want this.... a "personal" message played on a radio station? No... we -inmates- want to TALK with our loved ones, not plaster a letter to a bulletin board for everyone to read. 0 inmates would do that... they would rather write a loved one a letter.

Why would we anyone want everyone with a radio hear what im saying to a loved one? And how would I know when this message would be played? No, this is a terrible idea. Even if this whole process was free, it would be useless.

Im sorry, I dont mean to be such a downer, and I appreciate your desire to help the incarcerated, but I dont think this idea has any promise.

Please do not downvote the person responding to me. They are giving me exactly what I asked for.

Why would we anyone want everyone with a radio hear what im saying to a loved one?

I was actually suggesting the other way around. As in, a loved one on the outside would have the message for the person on the inside. Also, because the message would be public, my thought was that the message would be the same kind of thing you'd say in public:

"We went shopping yesterday. Those grapes I like has gone up in price, but I still buy it because I can't help myself. I miss you and I'm looking forward to our next in-person visit. I love you, bye"

Further, the loved one doesn't even have to identify themselves or who they're talking to if they didn't want to. I imagine the inmate would recognize the voice of their loved one, so in that sense it would be anonymous and a known communication only to the inmate.

And how would I know when this message would be played?

Each message would play on a loop, so multiple times a day, perhaps even multiple days a week.

No… we -inmates- want to TALK with our loved ones

Of course I understand that, but I can't do that. The article talks about spending $500/month just to have phone calls with an inmate. I have zero power over what the prison system allows to send out from the prison, including your voice. My thought was that hearing your loved ones on the regular with just normal life stuff would help keep inmates connected. A way for them to be included in the lives of loved ones being regularly included on the mundane stuff that makes life whole.

Im sorry, I dont mean to be such a downer, and I appreciate your desire to help the incarcerated, but I dont think this idea has any promise.

Don't apologize. I specifically asked for the opinions of those that had firsthand experience for your opinion. I appreciate you sharing it with me. Thank you. I'll stop pursuing this.