Inmate Phone Calls — Ask the Inmate
Prison phone calls are one of the most important lifelines between an incarcerated person and their family, and one of the most expensive. The prison phone industry has historically operated as a near-monopoly charging rates that few other consumer services would get away with. This section covers how the prison phone system works, why rates are so high and what has changed in recent years, how debit calling accounts function, how to get a number approved on an inmate's call list, how InmateAid's local number service reduces call costs by up to 70 percent, and what international callers need to know about reaching a US facility from another country. The questions answered here come from families who are paying too much for calls and from inmates trying to navigate phone access from inside. Understanding how the system works is the first step toward getting the most contact for the least cost. See also our sections on Money Transfer and Commissary.
Related InmateAid Services
This first depends on where yopur inmate is incarcerated. InmateAid has a listing of the correct phone service matched to every facility. Remember, there are no replacements for the services at the prison or jail, the company with the contract is running the phone system with competition. They get to make the rates. That is where InmateAid comes in. We have done the hard work of knowing what phone line gets the lowest price. It used to be that local
Read moreCheck your MyAccount area - it is located there as well as an email that was auto-sent at the time of sign-up. If you cannot find the email, please check your spam folder as they sometimes land there especially some first time purchases
Read moreNo, InmateAid does not replace ICSolutions, they make the calls through ICSolutions less expensive because of the phone number used. Monopoly providers can charge whatever they want as they are not competing for price supremacy. Since the carriers post their rates, InmateAid uses that information and then finds the cheapest phone number to make those calls with.
Read moreYou will have to get the new number to him through our Letter service or sending it to him with your own mailing
Read moreDepends on the three-way...:) if we are tlking about a 3-way call, then my advice would be to NEVER attempt it. The phone companies provide the prisons with the latest detection technology that sniffs out three-way calling. It is 100% against the rules of all institutions and loss of phone privilege for six months or more is the penalty. The people that get away with it do so for only a few calls before getting caught. With InmateAid's Discount Calling
Read moreInmateAid is not the provider of phone service at the jail or prison. InmateAid provides a number that will definitely save you money on each call. If e cannot save you money, we refund your deposit. Also, each facility page has a Discount Call button that once clicked will display the actual savings per call. Here is an example for the Union County Jail in PA. They use SecurusTech. The calls through them are $10.70 per 15-minutes. InmateAid will
Read moreThere is no limit. It's a privilege, not a right therefore they could restrict phone calls the entire sentence.
Read moreYes. The Fire Camps are minimum security facilities within the CDCR, the California state prison system. The inmates are absolutely allowed to make phone calls seven days per week. These inmates actually serve the counties that they are in by fighting fires and providing selfless forestry safety. They are trusted to be in the public domain while serving their sentence. Their model behavior is awarded by receiving all the privileges afforded inmates. The phone service is Global*Tel Link-Offender Connect. The calls
Read moreThe inmate continues to use the service at the jail or prison. The inmateAid number makes their service less expensive to use. For instance, Securus, GTL-OffenderConnect, IC Solutions, Paytel, Telmate, Reliance, Combined Public Communications, CityTeleCoin, or any of the other twenty or more companies that have single-contracts with the various facilities - the inmates there must use the single carrier chosen by the facility. And it is easy to see, they are all the same, competing for a contract makes
Read moreNo they do not, If there is money in the account, the account works until they are handed the balance in a check or debit card on theior way out the door.
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