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.
Subject: Inmate phone calls
Phones are usually turned on at 6am and are turned off at 9:30pm. There may also be times during the day where there is no access to them - the rules inside every facility change without notice and the inmates have to deal with the inconsistencies.
Subject: Inmate phone calls
At Kirkland Correctional Institution, there are several common reasons why your boyfriend may have missed a scheduled call, and most of them are routine rather than serious.
The most likely possibilities include:
No funds or minutes available in his phone account
Phone restrictions or limits on how many calls or minutes he can use in a set period
Unit lockdowns or schedule changes that temporarily prevent access to phones
Equipment issues with the phone system
Work assignments or count times conflicting with call hours
It is also possible he simply did not get...
Read moreSubject: Inmate phone calls
If you are receiving calls from an inmate and do not recognize who it is, there is no simple way to identify the caller on your own. Correctional phone systems are set up to protect inmate identity unless they choose to identify themselves during the call.
When you get a call, the system usually plays a recorded message stating it is from a correctional facility, but it does not always clearly name the inmate unless they record their name during setup.
The...
Read moreSubject: Inmate phone calls
No, both of you are not being charged for the same call. The prompt asking you to “press 1 to accept” is standard for nearly all inmate phone systems and does not automatically mean you are paying.
That message serves two purposes:
It notifies you that the call is coming from a correctional facility
It asks you to accept the call connection
Whether you are charged depends on how the call is set up:
Inmate-paid calls: If your inmate is using funds from their phone account,...
Read moreSubject: Inmate phone calls
If you change your cell number to a 913 area code, which is local to Leavenworth Detention Center, the calls are typically treated as local rather than long distance. That can make a noticeable difference in the cost per call, depending on the phone provider used by the facility.
In most correctional systems, call pricing is based on whether the number being dialed is local or long distance. Having a local number can reduce the per-minute rate and help stretch the available...
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