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.
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Subject: Inmate phone calls
Our phone service is perfect for folks in your situation. All inmate calls to Puerto Rico are about $1.00/minute or $15.00 per each 15-minute call. We would get you a local state-side phone number that when called would ring to your PR number but only charge the $1.65 local charge per each 15-minute call. You still use the service at the prison or jail, but use the number we give you to arrange the account. There is a $13.00+ savings per call...
Read moreSubject: Inmate phone calls
Depending on where they are calling from, the standard times are 6am - 9:30pm. The phones are turned off during "count time" and lockdowns.
Subject: Inmate phone calls
Calls from Puerto Rico to mainland US numbers run approximately $1.00 per minute. At that rate, $4 covers about four minutes of talk time. That is a very short conversation, especially if there is anything meaningful to discuss.
Put more on the account. If the call limit at that facility is 15 minutes, the full conversation would cost around $15. For regular communication you want to have enough on the account to cover several calls before it runs dry. Loading $25...
Read moreSubject: Inmate phone calls
Your inmate can write you anytime they want. Even if they do not have any money to buy stamps, there is a program for inmates that have no money on their book, they can ask their counselor and the stamps and writing materials will be provided.
Subject: Inmate phone calls
Inmates must initiate the call. They cannot receive incoming calls. Depending upon where there are, there will be ONE carrier that you must use. You can accept a collect call from the inmate, set up a prepaid account or the inmate might be able to pay for their own calls from their commissary account. The carrier's prices are tiered. InmateAid finds the best number to use on THEIR system. In many cases, we can save your inmate $12.00 per call with...
Read moreSubject: Inmate phone calls
The easiest and most reliable way is to send it by mail. But, if you call the facility, it is 50-50 that the person answering will break their internal rules of not passing information to the inmates and do it for you. It's not a major understaking, you just have to get the right person, willing to be nice.
Subject: Inmate phone calls
A letter is the most reliable channel for this. Write a short note with your phone number clearly at the top and send it through InmateAid or regular mail. It arrives physically, it does not get filtered or lost in a system queue, and once they have it they have your number to reference every time they want to call. If your emails are going through the CorrLinks system, keep in mind there is a delay built in for screening,...
Read moreSubject: Inmate phone calls
The number your inmate dials is the one InmateAid assigns to your account. It arrives in an email notification sent to your inbox about an hour after your purchase is complete. Check that email, find the assigned number, and get it to your inmate so they can add it to their approved call list at the facility.
That assigned number is a forwarding number. When your inmate dials it from the facility's phone system, the call routes directly to whatever number...
Read moreSubject: Inmate phone calls
Yes. If your situation changes, whether your inmate is transferred to a different facility or you need a number configured for a different location, InmateAid can set up a new line for you. Email aid@inmateaid.com with the updated facility information and the team will establish the new service. In situations where the original number did not work as expected, InmateAid has offered the first month at no charge as a goodwill gesture.
On the refund question more broadly: when a phone...
Read moreSubject: Inmate phone calls
The carrier for TDCJ - Kyle is SecurusTech. They are the only carrier that can process calls. If you are in the state of Texas your calls are going to run 0.26/minute. We can get you a phone number from outside the state and that would reduce the calls to $0.21/minute. If you are going to speak to your inmate everyday, you might look to getting a number to save money.
Subject: Inmate phone calls
It could be either. This depends on the system where your inmate is incarcerated. An inmate can make a collect call from ALL jails, prisons and detention facilities This is absoolutely the most expensive call.
In most federal facilities, the inmate's TRULINCS account controls the outbound phone calls (along with commissary and CORRLINKS email). Every call made is debited from this account by the minute. Local calls are 1/4 the price of long distance calls. We get people local numbers through our...
Read moreSubject: Inmate phone calls
The short answer is yes, and the math makes it clear quickly.
InmateAid does not replace the phone system at the jail or prison. Your family member still calls out through the facility's phone service the same way they always have. What InmateAid does is give you a local phone number to receive those calls on. That single change drops the per-call rate from long distance to local, and the difference between those two rates is where the savings come from.
Here...
Read moreSubject: Inmate phone calls
Yes, jails do restrict calls, and new arrivals often go through an intake or orientation period before phone access is activated. That window is usually about a week, but at some facilities, it can extend longer depending on how backed up the intake process is or whether any holds or classifications are pending on the case.
Two weeks with no contact at all is on the longer end and worth following up on directly. Call the facility and ask to speak...
Read moreSubject: Inmate phone calls
No, and there are risks on both sides of that call. Prison and jail phone calls are recorded and monitored. Every number an inmate calls, and every conversation on those calls, is logged and available to law enforcement. Calling someone with an active warrant creates a documented connection between the inmate and a person who is currently wanted, which is the kind of detail that prosecutors and investigators pay attention to.
For the inmate, regular contact with someone who is a...
Read moreSubject: Inmate phone calls
InmateAid is not a replacement for GTL or a portal into their system. What it provides is a local phone number matched to the same rate center as the jail, which triggers GTL's lower local calling rate rather than the more expensive long-distance rate applied to numbers outside the area.
To activate the savings, you need to add the InmateAid local number to your GTL account rather than keeping your original number as the contact number. You can do this by...
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