How does the discount telephone work and what is the cheapest way to make calls?  He just transferred to Varner Unit, he says anybody can visit first thirty days but they say only immediate family. I'm his fiance, will they consider that i didn't wanna miss our visits.

The phone service at all of the prisons in the Arkansas Department of Correction is set up through bid process. In this case, GTL has the contract for all inmate outbound calling and to tape record the calls - essentially a monopoly. Therefore, you have to use them to receive any calls. The choice is whether you pay GTL for a long distance call (to your number) or a local call (to a number that we get you). If you are already local, we cannot save you money. We get you a local line matching the rate center of town where the jail is. Your inmate dials this local number and it will ring on your current phone (nothing changes on your end). You will need to register the local number with GTL (just like you would your long distance number without our service) who will charge you only for the local call. If your inmate can buy calling cards from the commissary, you will not need to go online and set this up, they can dial the local number direct with the card. InmateAid takes care of the long distance portion of the call. In general, their price for an long distance call ranges from $4-15 per call. With the local number, they usually charge less than $1.65 per call - flat rate. The difference in two call prices is why people use the service, the savings from InmateAid pays for itself in 3-6 calls.