INMATEAID EDITORIAL ARTICLE
Schema: Article + FAQPage
Internal links: Kansas inmate search, send money, visitation guide (KDOC), Staying Connected hub, Kansas reentry resources
SOURCING NOTE: KDOC phone (official KDOC Resident Telephone page doc.ks.gov; provider = ICS Corrections Inc.; collect/prepaid calls; inmates CANNOT call cell phones unless prepaid account established; family sets up prepaid account through ICS at 1-888-506-8407 or online; no incoming calls; monitored/recorded; IMPP 10-111; phone calls allowed during RDU per KDOC RDU FAQ "Yes, residents are permitted telephone privileges"); messaging/email (KDOC contracts with GTL GettingOut for secure messages and photos; GettingOut.com; separate from phone platform); video visitation (ICSolutions "The Visitor" platform; register at icsolutions.com; must be approved KDOC visitor first; offsite via Windows/Android/iOS); visitation (official KDOC Visitation In-Person page + facility FAQs; online scheduler available; facility Visitation Clerk phone numbers listed; visitors on ONE inmate's list only, exception if multiple immediate family incarcerated; Form 9 used by resident to request special visits, 72 hours advance, unit team answers 24 hours prior; special visits for out-of-state 150+ miles = courtesy visit consideration, immediate family only, one-time; visitor removed by own request may not re-apply 180 days; IMPP 10-113D; all visitors subject to search; General Order 16, 101 section V for visitor list procedures); mail (full name + KDOC# + facility address + sender name+address required; all mail subject to search; K.A.R. 44-12-601; books + magazines allowed up to 12 books + 10 magazines in cell); 10% mandatory savings withholding (KDOC FAQ; 10% of outside funds withheld after deductions to mandatory savings account released at release); structure (El Dorado CF 1955 cap; Lansing CF 1906; Hutchinson CF 1862; Norton CF 975; Ellsworth CF 913; Topeka CF women's; Larned Correctional Mental Health Facility; Winfield CF + satellite facilities; HQ 900 SW Jackson 4th Floor Topeka KS 66603; 785-296-3317); BOP federal Kansas (Leavenworth USP + FPC - historically significant, most famous federal prison; BOP TRULINCS/CorrLinks 300 min/month, 15-min call cap, $0.06/min audio per FCC Jan 2025, TRULINCS $0.05/min compose, 30 contacts max, no attachments); county jails (Johnson, Sedgwick, Wyandotte, Douglas, Shawnee largest; each sets own vendor).
SAFETY/EDITORIAL GUARDRAILS: Voice = knowledgeable formerly-incarcerated parent, warm, direct, personal. Kansas structural hooks: (1) two separate platforms - ICSolutions for phones/video + GettingOut for messages; families need both set up; (2) cell phone restriction - cannot call cell without prepaid ICS account; (3) Form 9 as the tool for special visits including out-of-state family; (4) Leavenworth as federal anchor; (5) 10% savings withholding practical note. KDOC uses "residents" in many places. Scott's firsthand woven as narrative. No em dashes, no smart quotes, no double hyphens.
Parenting From Prison in Kansas
Kansas uses two separate platforms for communication, and both need to be set up before the channels are open. Phone calls and video visits run through ICS Corrections. Messages and photos run through GTL GettingOut. A family that only sets up one of them has half the connection available. A family that sets up neither is relying on mail alone.
This matters for parents because each platform serves a different parenting purpose. The phone call is immediate and voice-based. The GettingOut message is asynchronous and daily. The video visit through ICSolutions lets your children see your face. Mail gives them something physical to hold. All four channels together are what a present parent in Kansas uses. This guide is about how to use all of them.
Two Platforms, One Goal
The Kansas Department of Corrections contracts with ICS Corrections for telephone services and with GTL GettingOut for electronic messaging and photos. These are separate companies with separate accounts.
**For phone calls and video:** Your family sets up an account through ICS Corrections at ICSolutions.com or by calling **1-888-506-8407**. The account can be a prepaid collect account, which allows calls to landlines and cell phones, or a collect-only account, which is restricted to landlines. This matters: **if your family's primary number is a cell phone, they must establish the prepaid account specifically, because inmates cannot call cell phones unless that prepaid account is in place.** A family who thinks a collect call will work to their cell may not receive your call until they understand this and set up the right account type.
**For messages and photos:** Your family creates a separate account at GettingOut.com or through the free GettingOut mobile app for Android and iOS. After creating an account and verifying identity, they search for you and add you as a contact. Messages and photos sent through GettingOut are the daily thread of connection that fills the space between calls.
Tell your family about both platforms separately. Many families set up the phone account but never hear about GettingOut because no one told them it was different. A message that your family sends through the phone provider does not reach you. The platforms are separate. Both accounts need to be active.
Phone Calls During RDU: The Opening Window
When you arrive at a Kansas Department of Corrections facility, you go through the Reception and Diagnostic Unit process. During that period, phone calls are permitted. The KDOC FAQ for RDU confirms it directly: residents are permitted telephone privileges during the RDU process.
That is useful. Unlike states that restrict all communication during intake, Kansas lets the phone run from the beginning. You can call your children from the first week. What you cannot do during the RDU period is begin the formal visitation process, because that comes after your permanent facility assignment is made.
Use the RDU phone access to establish the rhythm. Call your children. Let them hear your voice early. Explain what is happening in terms appropriate for their age: you are at a temporary facility while they figure out where you will be permanently, and once that is settled, you will be able to see them. Do not let the uncertainty of the RDU period become silence. A child who hears from their parent during the uncertainty period, regularly and calmly, handles the uncertainty differently than a child who waits weeks without contact before the first call.
The Form 9: Your Tool for Getting Out-of-State Family In the Door
Kansas uses an internal request form called the **Form 9** for a range of requests, including special visits. This matters for parents whose family lives more than 150 miles from the facility or outside Kansas entirely.
Under Kansas visitation policy, the resident initiates a special visit request through their unit team via a Form 9. The request must be submitted **72 hours in advance**, and the unit team answers with an approval or disapproval **24 hours before the scheduled visit**. Special visits may be granted when the resident receives infrequent family visits (fewer than two per quarter) and where other correctional or rehabilitative factors support it. Courtesy visits are available for families who have traveled 150 miles or more, for immediate family only, on a one-time basis, at the officer's discretion.
For a parent whose children live in another city or state and cannot travel regularly, the Form 9 is the key to getting them through the door when they can make the trip. Do not wait until the family is already on the road. Submit the Form 9 three days before and confirm the approval before your family travels. The 150-mile courtesy visit provision exists specifically for families like yours.
Beyond special visits, any visitor must be on your approved visitor list, and visitors in Kansas are only allowed to be on **one inmate's list at a time** - the exception is if more than one member of an immediate family is incarcerated simultaneously. If a visitor is removed from your list at their own request, they cannot re-apply for 180 days. Build your list carefully.
Video Visitation Through ICSolutions
Kansas offers video visitation through the ICSolutions "The Visitor" platform. Families must register at icsolutions.com to participate in offsite video visits. The registration is free, but families must already be approved KDOC visitors before the video account can be activated. That sequence matters: visitor approval first, then video visit account.
Offsite video visits work on Windows computers, Android phones, and iOS devices. The platform requires testing the visitation application in advance. Once the account is active and the visitor is approved, visits can be scheduled and conducted from anywhere - which is the main advantage for families who cannot drive to the facility.
A video visit that your child can have from the couch at home, without a three-hour drive to El Dorado or Lansing, is a gift. For children who are in school and for working parents who cannot take a day off to make the trip, the video visit is what makes regular face-to-face contact possible. Treat it with the same intention you would bring to an in-person visit. Know what you want to say. Ask about the specific thing they mentioned. Let them show you something on the screen. Close with I love you.
GettingOut Messages: The Daily Thread
GettingOut messages and photos cost something from the account, but the cost is modest and the value of daily contact is not. A message that arrives every morning saying I was thinking about you today, what is going on with the thing you mentioned builds a pattern of presence that the weekly phone call cannot replicate on its own.
For your family: create the GettingOut account at GettingOut.com or through the GettingOut mobile app. Add funds to cover message costs. Add you as a contact. Then use it. Photos sent through GettingOut are the images that travel: the birthday cake, the school photo, the sports team picture that proves life is still happening and the person inside is still connected to it.
For parents: use the GettingOut messages for the school check-in, the daily thought, the response to what your child told you yesterday. The asynchronous nature of messaging means you can send something at any hour and it is there when your child wakes up or comes home from school. That kind of daily contact - not scheduled, not formal, just present - is what builds the sense over months and years that the parent is paying attention even from prison.
Mail and the Practical Details
Mail to Kansas inmates requires the resident's full name, KDOC number, facility address, and the sender's full name and return address. If any of these are missing, the mail is not delivered. Make sure your family has the correct address for your current facility, because KDOC transfers residents between facilities and a letter sent to the wrong location may not follow you.
Kansas allows inmates to have up to 12 books and 10 magazines in their cell. When the limit is reached, the resident must remove something before more can be received. Books and magazines must be mailed directly to the facility. For parents who want to send their child an educational book, the reverse also matters: you can request books from family, and your family can mail age-appropriate books to your children from your direction.
Outside funds deposited to your KDOC account are subject to a **10% mandatory savings withholding** after any outstanding obligations are deducted. That 10% goes into a mandatory savings account that earns interest and is returned to you at release. It is a small amount per deposit but it adds up. For families who are budgeting how much to send, knowing that 10% is withheld helps them plan the amount they deposit so the net reaches what you actually need.
Making the Call Count in the Wheat Belt
Kansas is a big state with wide spacing between cities and facilities. A family in Wichita visiting someone at Lansing is looking at over 200 miles each way. A family in Kansas City area visiting Norton is 350 miles. The video visit fills the gap between in-person visits for families whose lives make the drive difficult.
But the phone call and the GettingOut message are what keep the relationship moving between visits. The call to your child is not a briefing. It is a conversation that belongs to them. One specific question that proves you know what is happening in their life right now. Their name said at the start. I love you said at the end, every single time.
If you have multiple children, rotate deliberately. Each child deserves a call or a message that is theirs alone. A child who shares every call with siblings and never gets a moment that belongs specifically to them misses the thing that the call is supposed to provide: the experience of a parent who sees them as an individual. Give that to each of them separately, even if the messages are shorter to make room for everyone.
Federal Prison in Kansas: Leavenworth
Kansas is home to the United States Penitentiary at Leavenworth, one of the most historically significant federal prisons in the country, as well as a Federal Prison Camp on the same grounds. If you are in federal custody at Leavenworth or another BOP facility, the national BOP infrastructure applies.
**Phone.** Three hundred minutes per month, with each call capped at 15 minutes at $0.06 per minute under the FCC's 2025 rates, plus 100 additional minutes in November and December. Leavenworth is in northeast Kansas, close enough to the Kansas City metro that some families may be able to visit without the long drive that other Kansas state facilities require.
**TRULINCS and CorrLinks.** The BOP's email platform costs $0.05 per minute to compose on your end and is free for the family. Up to 30 approved contacts, text only, no attachments. Use it for the things the 15-minute call cannot hold: the school check-in, the letter to your teenager, the question you have been turning over for three days.
Kansas County Jails: The Pretrial Period
Kansas's county jails in Johnson, Sedgwick (Wichita), Wyandotte, Douglas (Lawrence), and Shawnee (Topeka) counties each set their own vendor and communication rules. KDOC's GettingOut and ICSolutions platforms are the state prison system. County jails use different vendors, so the GettingOut account set up for the state system does not automatically work for the county jail.
Find out the specific platform your county jail uses, get that to your family, and fund the account. The pretrial phase is when children most need to hear from their parent consistently. Move fast on the communication setup, write letters in parallel, and make the first call count.
For the Family Holding Kansas Together
Two platforms means two setups, and the family who does not know about GettingOut never gets the daily messages. Tell the people who matter to you about both platforms. Send the ICS phone number in a letter. Mention GettingOut by name. Make sure the person who is going to read messages to your young child knows which app to download.
Fund both accounts. The phone account enables the calls. The GettingOut account enables the messages and photos. One without the other is half the connection.
And do the harder thing. Keep the incarcerated parent present in the children's lives as someone they have access to and permission to love. Kansas gives parents the phone from the first week, the GettingOut message channel, the video visit, and the mail. The Form 9 gives families who make the trip from out of state a path into the visiting room. Use all of it. None of it is perfect. All of it is real parenting from where you are.
FAQ
**What are the two platforms Kansas uses and how do I set them up?** Kansas uses ICS Corrections for phone calls and video visits (ICSolutions.com or call 1-888-506-8407) and GTL GettingOut for messages and photos (GettingOut.com or the GettingOut mobile app). Both require separate accounts. Both need to be set up for full communication access.
**Can my family call me on my cell phone?** Not through a regular collect call. Inmates in Kansas cannot call cell phones unless a prepaid account is established through ICS at 1-888-506-8407. If your family's only number is a cell, they must set up the prepaid account specifically. Collect calls go to landlines only.
**Can I make phone calls during the RDU intake period?** Yes. Kansas permits telephone privileges during the RDU process, though formal visitation does not begin until after your permanent facility assignment.
**How do I get my family in for a visit if they live far away?** Submit a Form 9 through your unit team at least 72 hours before the visit. The unit team approves or denies 24 hours before. For families who have traveled 150 miles or more, a one-time courtesy visit for immediate family may be granted at the officer's discretion even before formal visitor list approval is in place. Build the formal visitor list as soon as possible after your permanent assignment.
**What is the 10% savings withholding?** The Kansas DOC withholds 10% of funds received from outside sources (after deductions for any outstanding obligations) and deposits them into a mandatory savings account that earns interest and is returned to you at release. Plan deposits accordingly so the net amount covers what you need.
**How does video visitation work in Kansas?** Video visits run through ICSolutions "The Visitor" platform. Your family registers at icsolutions.com at no cost, but must already be approved KDOC visitors before the video account can be activated. Visits can be conducted from a Windows computer, Android phone, or iOS device.
**What is the federal situation at Leavenworth?** Leavenworth houses a United States Penitentiary and a Federal Prison Camp. BOP rules apply: 300 phone minutes per month with 15-minute call caps at $0.06 per minute, plus TRULINCS email through CorrLinks at $0.05 per minute on the inmate's end, free for families, up to 30 approved contacts and text only.
[Affiliate handling: Product-light parenting spoke - NO external affiliate links. Internal CTAs only (standard 5): Kansas inmate search, send money, visitation guide KDOC, Staying Connected hub, Kansas reentry resources. SOURCING: KDOC official pages (doc.ks.gov): Resident Telephone page (ICS Corrections Inc. provider; collect/prepaid; cannot call cell unless prepaid account; ICS 1-888-506-8407; no incoming calls; monitored/recorded; IMPP 10-111; phone allowed during RDU per RDU FAQ); messaging (GTL GettingOut; GettingOut.com/app; separate platform from ICS); video visitation (ICSolutions "The Visitor"; icsolutions.com; must be approved KDOC visitor first; Windows/Android/iOS offsite); visitation (Visitation In-Person page; online scheduler + facility clerk phone numbers; visitors on ONE inmate's list only; Form 9 for special visits 72 hours advance, unit team approves/denies 24 hours prior; 150+ miles courtesy visit consideration immediate family only one-time; visitor removed by own request cannot reapply 180 days; IMPP 10-113D; General Order 16 101 section V; search required all visitors); mail (full name + KDOC# + facility + sender name+address; K.A.R. 44-12-601; 12 books + 10 magazines max in cell); 10% mandatory savings withholding (KDOC General FAQ; 10% of outside funds after deductions to mandatory savings; released at release); structure (El Dorado CF 1955; Lansing CF 1906; Hutchinson CF 1862; Norton CF 975; Ellsworth CF 913; Topeka CF women's; Larned CMHF; Winfield CF; HQ 900 SW Jackson 4th Floor Topeka KS 66603, 785-296-3317); BOP Kansas (Leavenworth USP + FPC; TRULINCS/CorrLinks 300 min/month + 100 Nov-Dec, 15-min cap, $0.06/min audio per FCC Jan 2025, TRULINCS $0.05/min compose, 30 contacts max, no attachments); county jails (Johnson/Sedgwick/Wyandotte/Douglas/Shawnee largest; vendor varies; NOT KDOC platforms). GUARDRAILS: no em dashes, no smart quotes, no double hyphens; warm/direct/personal voice; two-platform setup + cell phone restriction + Form 9 for special visits as structural hooks; Leavenworth as federal anchor; 10% savings as practical note. Scott firsthand woven as narrative. NOTE for Poorwa: verify ICS Corrections still KDOC phone provider; verify GettingOut still KDOC messaging platform; verify 1-888-506-8407 ICS number current; verify Form 9 + 72-hour/24-hour timeline per current IMPP 10-113D; verify 10% savings withholding still in effect; verify cell phone restriction is current policy; len()/character check before publish.]