This event examines how carceral bureaucracies and corporate telecommunications interests have turned family contact into a profit-driven system, drawing on Michigan’s groundbreaking “Right to Hug” litigation to challenge the erosion of in-person visits amid mounting pressures on due process. It situates this litigation within broader jail and prison policies across the United States that replace physical visits with costly, unreliable, and highly surveilled video calls.

The following questions frame the core issues addressed during the conversation, drawing on legal strategy, human rights analysis, and systemic critique:

Drawing on recent litigation by Civil Rights Corps, investigative journalism from NBC News, and critical scholarship on punishment bureaucracy, the conversation asks: Is there—and should there be—a constitutional right to hug one’s child or parent while incarcerated, and what does this litigation mean for fundamental rights amid growing authoritarian profiteering?

●      How video visitation bans generate millions in "kickbacks" for sheriffs and counties while extracting wealth from poor families

●      The documented psychological harm of severing physical contact between children and incarcerated parents

●      How corporate surveillance systems (voice biometrics, AI monitoring) turn family communication into data extraction

●      Comparative questions for Canadian constitutional and human rights law: what would a "right to hug" look like in Canada's legal framework?

●      The role of media narratives in normalizing or challenging these practices

Register for the event here: https://bit.ly/righttohug