No, inmate outbound calls are NOT and never have been free. All of the jails, prisons and detention centers have set their phone service to a government bid process. The winner of the contract has a monopoly on all of the calls. They can set their prices without worrying about competition. The calls are far from free. Our service works in 80% of the cases and if it works in your case, the savings could be substantial. Send us

Every jail, prison or detention center sets their time limits on inmate calls. You have to be mindful that there are a limited number of phones and the inmates wait in line to use it. If there were no limits you'd have some angry inmates who'd have to wait more than an allotted 15-20 minutes span. There are some county jails where the time is longer but's it's rare.

The phone service at all of the prisons, jails and detention centers are set up through bid process. The winner of the contract is the ONLY provider for that facility making them a monopoly. Whomever has the contract for all inmate outbound calling and to tape record the calls, then you have to use them to receive calls. The choice is whether you pay them for a long distance call or a local call (to a number we get for

Unfortunately, the inmate's calls are not and never will be free.

Yes, you still pay for the call to the phone carrier that has the contract at the jail/prison. InmateAid is not a replacement for their service, we just make the calls cheaper with a better number. Our fee covers the phone line rental and the long distance minutes. You are still paying for the local call. In most cases, the local call is 1/4 of the cost of the call, the long distance portion is 3/4 of the cost.

No, all of the phone calling cards available for use by inmates must be purchased at the commissary from money on their inmate trust account. If you are long distance you might look into our Discount Telephone Service. We are able to cut the prices of phone calls for about 80% of the situations. Send us the name of the facility and your phone number, we will assess the situation and give you an honest estimate of call prices with

Send us your telephone number and the facility name - we will give you an honest estimate before you sign-up

Paytel.com - If the calls are more than $2.00 each, contact us because we have had great success saving up to $12.00 per call when the fees are that high. Send us your telephone number and the facility where your inmate is held and we will give you an honest estimate before you sign up.

Yes you can use the prepaid cellphone with an InmateAid Discount Telephone number. Our numbers are land lines which are forwarded to you number. There is no problem using any type of phone with our service as you are giving your inmate OUR number to call and it rings on your line.

Yes, but our recommendation is to wait because it is likely there is a restriction on the amount of time the inmate is allowed to use the phone while in segregation. Check back with us when the inmate released back into the general population.