© 2026 All Rights reserved WUSF
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Our daily newsletter, delivered first thing weekdays, keeps you connected to your community with news, culture, national NPR headlines, and more.

Prison Phones

NPR's John Burnett reports that while most prisons across the country are trying to make life more difficult for prisoners (cutting back funding for basketball courts, initiating chain gangs, etc.), in Texas, which has the nation's largest prison population, prisoners are being given more access to one perk: the telephone. But Burnett says from the prison perspective, there's a business incentive for the move.

Copyright 1996 NPR

Thanks to you, WUSF is here — delivering fact-based news and stories that reflect our community.⁠ Your support powers everything we do.