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
Subject: Inmate phone calls
Reliance is the carrier that has the only contract at the institution where your inmate is incarcerated. InmateAid is not a replacement for Reliance, but a service that will find you a local number matching the rate center of the prison, jail or detention center your inmate calls from. If you are already local, we probably cannot save you money. If your inmate gets moved, there is a likelihood that there would be a different phone service (other than Reliance). InmateAid will get...
Read moreSubject: Inmate phone calls
The phone service at Pointe Coupee is Correct Solutions Group. Regardless whether you use InmateAid or not, you will have to use them. They have the contract and all inmate calls must pass through them. Local calls are cheaper than long distance calls through them - if you are not local, we might be able to save you $4-6 per call but you will still be paying them for each local call. You will have to figure out if the...
Read moreSubject: Inmate phone calls
Inmates may not receive calls, they can only dial out. If they call you and you have not set up a pre-paid account the collect calls will cost you $15.00 for 15 minutes. If you set up a prepaid account and the calls are more than $3.00, you should check with us, we can most probably get you a better rate with a new telephone number (that we will forward to your account).
SEND US
YOUR NUMBER AND THE FACILITY NAME -...
Read moreSubject: Inmate phone calls
Yes you do, our service is not a replacement for Bealls. We are provisioning you a local number that when used by your inmate through the Bealls system will register the absolute lowest per-call price price. There is a distinct price difference between long distance and local, the savings is realized in that difference and why people use our service
Subject: Inmate phone calls
Inmates at FCI Terre Haute receive 300 minutes of phone time per month under standard Bureau of Prisons guidelines. That works out to roughly 10 minutes per day if spread evenly across the month, though in practice most inmates bank their minutes and use them in longer calls rather than short daily check ins.
The BOP does offer a holiday bonus during November and December, bumping the monthly allotment up to 400 minutes for those two months. That extra hundred minutes...
Read moreSubject: Inmate phone calls
All federal inmates get 300 minutes per MONTH, in November and December they allow 400 minutes per month. Your inmate needs to take care in budgeting their time so that they do not use it all up in the first week or so like many new inmates tend to do.
If you are long distance from Terre Haute, we can get you a local number to bring the cost of the call to 6 cents per minute instead of 21 cents...
Read moreSubject: Inmate phone calls
When you have both an InmateAid account and a GTL account set up for phone service, the two work together rather than independently and understanding which one handles what makes the process straightforward.
GTL is the phone provider that actually connects the calls. To add minutes or funds for your son to use when calling, that deposit goes into your GTL account at connectnetwork.com. That is where the call credits live and where you go when the balance needs to be...
Read moreSubject: Inmate phone calls
Sometimes it saves up to $13 per call. Sometimes only $1-3 per call. Other times we can't improve the price at all and refund your money. We know what works and if there can be savings we will let you know.
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YOUR NUMBER AND THE FACILITY NAME - WE WILL GIVE YOU AN HONEST ESTIMATE BEFORE
YOU SIGN-UP
Subject: Inmate phone calls
No. When an inmate places a call through the prison phone system and you do not answer, the call does not connect to voicemail the way a standard cell phone call would. The system simply registers that the call was not answered and disconnects. Your voicemail greeting does not play and the inmate hears nothing beyond the automated prompts of the prison phone system itself.
This means leaving a new phone number in your voicemail greeting as a way to get...
Read moreSubject: Inmate phone calls
Yes. We are not replacing GTL, we are making their service cheaper for you to use. You must take the number we gave you and register it with them like you normally would your own number. Depending on your situation, there is normally a $4-5 savings per call with the local number. If you have additional questions or concerns, email us at aid@inmateaid.com.
