The city’s $8 million gift of free phone calls for inmates will spark jailhouse violence, with violent prisoners sure to attack fellow jailbirds to steal their minutes, law enforcement sources told The Post.
Under the program, which went into effect Wednesday, inmates use personal ID numbers to access the 21 minutes of phone time they’re allotted every three hours while outside their cells.
But weaker inmates were already being targeted to cough up their access codes when the calls had to be paid for with commissary cash, sources said.
Former Rikers Island intelligence commander Marc Bullaro also said that a “large number of inmates do not use the phones out of fear” of other prisoners who control access to them, usually cop-killers, drug dealers and “very tough guys who are good fighters.”
The Department of Correction said that “officers are on hand to make sure the calls take place in an orderly fashion,” and predicted the free calls “will help our efforts at violence reduction by decreasing idle time.”