An inmate's wife said severely cutting the amount of time time prisoners can spend on the phone to family could lead to more tension and violence in jail and will harm rehabilitation efforts. At the moment, prisoners make free phone calls to approved numbers for up to three hours a day, but in the new year that's being cut back to just half an hour a day. Corrections said the change is aimed at giving everyone fair access because there's been issues with some prisoners monopolising the phones. But the one prisoner's wife said the phone is a vital link to the outside world and their families and it helps them cope with being locked up.