Does InmateAid Discount Phone Work at Rikers Island?

InmateAid's discount phone service works by providing a local phone number that reduces the per-minute cost of calls from long distance to local rates. The savings come from the difference between those two rate tiers.

At Rikers Island, which is located in New York City, calls are already being billed at local rates because the facility is in the same rate center as most New York City phone numbers. There is no long-distance rate to reduce, which means an InmateAid local number would not produce any savings in this situation. For that reason, InmateAid was unable to improve your pricing and the payment was refunded.

The call limitations your husband is experiencing, twice a week for six minutes each time, are set by the facility itself and are not something InmateAid or any outside phone service can change. New York City Department of Corrections facilities at Rikers have their own visitation and communication policies that are separate from the phone billing structure. Those restrictions are institutional rules, not a billing issue.

If the call allotment seems unusually restrictive, your husband should ask his housing officer or case manager whether his specific housing unit has additional limitations or whether his phone access is being affected by any other factor such as a disciplinary status.