A push is growing in Massachusetts for reforms to a program that provides inmates with unlimited, free phone calls, an initiative that put Bay State taxpayers on the hook for about $12.5 million last fiscal year.

Massachusetts House Republicans are requesting a probe into the program as part of the state Inspector General’s investigation of state sheriff spending and compensation levels, demanding a “more fiscally constrained and sustainable alternative.”

A bill that Gov. Maura Healey signed into law in late 2023 requires the state Department of Correction and all state sheriffs’ offices to provide inmates with access to computer tablets and phone calls, free of charge to both the person initiating and receiving the communication.

“Over the last two years, participation in this program

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