Ask The Inmate. Real answers from people who've been there.

Absolutely. It does not replace any phone carrier that is in place at the county jail, it makes their calls cheaper by making the inmate's outbound call a local call. There is a big price difference between local and long distance pricing dialing out of a county jail. If your number is not local, email us the name of the jail and your phone number. We will run a diagnostic on the computer to see if there is enough of...

Inmate jobs in jail and prison fall into two broad categories: facility maintenance work that keeps the institution running, and specialized positions that require more skill or trust. Facility maintenance is where most inmates start. Kitchen work, cleaning common areas and bathrooms, landscaping, laundry, and general upkeep are the jobs that everyone rotates through. They are not glamorous but they provide structure, get inmates out of their cells, and can count toward good behavior records. Specialized positions open up for inmates who...

There is no standard way to order food and have it delivered directly to an inmate, the way you might send a gift basket to someone at home. Most correctional facilities do not accept food packages from outside, and those that do have highly specific rules about approved vendors and items. The most universal option is funding the inmate's commissary account. Commissary is the store inside the facility where inmates can purchase food items, snacks, drinks, and other approved goods on...

Whether you can physically touch your family member during a visit depends almost entirely on the security level of the facility they are in. Contact visitation means you are in the same room with no barrier between you. A brief hug at the start and end of the visit is typically permitted, and you sit across a table or in chairs facing each other. This is the standard setup at most minimum and low security facilities, federal camps, and many county...

InmateAid's discount phone service works by providing a local phone number that reduces the per-minute cost of calls from long distance to local rates. The savings come from the difference between those two rate tiers. At Rikers Island, which is located in New York City, calls are already being billed at local rates because the facility is in the same rate center as most New York City phone numbers. There is no long-distance rate to reduce, which means an InmateAid local...

The multi-state situation you are describing is confusing but follows a logical process once the pieces are laid out. When your boyfriend was arrested in Alabama, his fingerprints were automatically run through the NCIC, the National Crime Information Center, which is a federal database that tracks outstanding warrants across all 50 states. That search flagged an active Florida matter, which was serious enough for Florida to request that he be held and transferred back to face it. The arrest in Alabama...

Yes, it is possible in some cases, but international calling from federal prison is complicated and the rules vary by facility. Most federal facilities use a contracted phone provider, typically Securus or ICSolutions, and international calls are not automatically enabled on every account. The number you want to reach has to be on the inmate's approved call list first, and not all providers support international numbers in every country. Getting an international number approved requires submitting it through the proper channels...

The Discount Telephone Service helps whomever is paying the bill for the calls. If you are putting money on your inmate's books, then it would probably be beneficial to get more calls for the amount you've sent than less, right? Our service does not replace what the inmate has to do to make a call. They have to pay for the outbound call to the prison phone company. We just make that call cheaper. Inmost cases, the local call is...

If you use a collect call option from an inmate, the cost of the call will be at least $15.00. This is the most expensive option out there. There are better ways to receive calls.  If you are concerned about how to handle a pre-paid account, you can get a prepaid VISA card at any grocery or drug store. They work like a credit card and have the buying power of the amount you load on the card.  InmateAid can get you...

The inmate must make the outbound call. They cannot receive calls. All of the prison facilities in the United States operate the same way. They award the contract to one phone company who is the sole provider for that detention center. All calls are tape recorded by them and they get paid for every call. You have to use them, no matter what. The choice you make is whether to pay them a little, or pay them a lot. Our service...

It depends on the facility, the security level and any restrictions imposed on your inmate. The federal system allows calling from 6am - 9:30pm but restrict their minutes to 300 per month. County jails usually have the phones open all day and night, some even have phones in the cell. State prisons have a wide range of options and the main determinant is the restriction on each inmate. Some can only call once a day and others have none whatsoever....

The ASPC Yuma facility has a contract with Securus. You have to use them regardless. It is NOT possible to get another account that will replace Securus - you must keep using them. What Prison Call Solutions does is what InmateAid does better. We get a telephone number that will make the calls only $1.84 each. You will still pay Securus $1.84 for each call, but if you are saving over $5.00 per call, the InmateAid flat rate of $19.95...