Hazy! xxxx LTNS, hope you and the family are keeping well
The prison thing is true, they can also 'work' in jail and earn summat like 10 quid a week. And from what I know no matter how much money relatives send in, they still only have access to a limited amount of that per week.
I also haven't had to pay for tv the times I've been in hospital this year, and any phone calls were either made or received on my phones. (And you can get PAYG and phones for pennies these days, although if it's someone elderly I can understand why mobile phones might be difficult to figure out).