Inmate Video Visitation in Maine

If someone you love is locked up in Maine, here's the good news up front: at the state prison level, video visits are free. Maine moved its prison communication onto a nonprofit platform, and approved family and friends can do video calls without paying. That changes the moment you step down to a county jail, where private vendors charge by the minute. So the first thing to figure out is which kind of facility your person is in, because it determines the vendor, the cost, and the rules.

Maine is a small system, but it still splits custody three ways. The state prison system (Maine DOC) runs six adult facilities. County jails, run by sheriffs, handle people awaiting trial and serving short sentences. And federal and immigration custody play by their own rules, which in Maine have been shifting fast. Figure out which bucket your person is in first, because everything else flows from that.

Do Maine state prisons offer video visitation?

Yes, and the state has moved toward making it free. Maine DOC partnered with Ameelio, a nonprofit communications provider, to roll out free video calls, voice calls, and messaging across its facilities, starting with the Maine Correctional Center and the women's reentry center and expanding from there. Loved ones can connect with people in Maine state custody at no cost, which is rare. In-person contact visits also resumed after the pandemic, and the prisons keep video kiosks in the housing units so people can make non-contact video calls without the family having to travel.

Because Maine's vendor setup has changed in recent years (older guides may still name a for-profit company), the single most useful thing you can do is check the specific facility's current visitation page for which app to use and how to register. Whatever the platform, the approval step is the same: the person must add you, and you have to be approved by the facility before you can schedule.

In-person visiting is also offered, on a schedule that varies by facility and unit. To get on the approved visitor list, you fill out a paper visitor application (available from the resident, the facility lobby, or the DOC website), sign it, and mail it to the facility. Note one Maine rule: except for immediate family, a visitor generally can't be on more than one resident's visiting list.

County and city jails

This is where the free part ends. Maine's county jails contract with private vendors, and these are paid services. Most Maine counties use Securus; a couple, including Two Bridges Regional Jail and Somerset County, use GTL (now ViaPath). Cumberland County (Portland), the state's largest jail, uses Securus and runs visits on a pre-scheduled basis through an online request form, one visitor per inmate plus one child, with photo ID required at check-in.

Maine has leaned harder into video than many small states, in part to cut contraband and staffing costs, and several jails have replaced or heavily reduced in-person visits with video. That has drawn real criticism in Maine over cost, families have described running up large bills, so go in with your eyes open about the per-minute pricing.

The vendor is facility-specific, so the company that works for one county won't necessarily be the one next door. One warning that saves people money and grief: accounts do not transfer between vendors. If your person moves from a Securus jail to a ViaPath jail, your funds and account don't follow. You set up fresh with the new vendor.

How county jail video visitation usually works

There are two flavors, and the difference is the whole ballgame for your wallet.

Onsite (or "onsite video") means you drive to the jail and sit at a video terminal in the lobby to talk to the person, who's on a screen inside. Onsite video is sometimes free or low-cost.

Remote video means you connect from your own phone, tablet, or computer at home. That convenience is what you pay for. Remote sessions are charged per session or per minute, you typically prepay into a vendor account, and you usually reserve a slot in advance.

Maine jail video rates shift around, partly because the FCC has been capping these rates through 2024 to 2026 and partly because every facility prices differently. I'm not going to print a per-minute number here, because by the time you read it, it'll be wrong. Look up the rate on your specific jail's vendor page before you pay. What's stable is the structure: the state system is moving toward free, county onsite is sometimes free or cheaper, county remote tends to cost more, and there are usually advance-registration rules.

Setting up a video visit

The steps depend on whether it's a state prison or a county jail:

1. Find the system for that exact facility. For Maine DOC, check the facility's current visitation page for the app to use. For a county jail, check the sheriff's website, since it could be Securus, ViaPath/GTL, or something else. Don't guess.

2. Get approved, then create your account. For the state, mail the paper visitor application first, then set up the facility's app once you're notified you're approved. For a county jail, submit the visit request or register with the listed vendor.

3. Add your inmate using the correct name and ID number, and confirm you're on the approved list.

4. Schedule your visit, choosing onsite or remote, and pay if it's a paid county remote session. Many facilities require booking a day or two in advance.

5. Test your device and log in early. Get on about 15 minutes ahead. Check your camera, microphone, speakers, and internet. A failed connection on your end usually still burns the visit slot.

Federal and immigration custody

Maine is unusual here: it does not have a federal Bureau of Prisons facility within the state. People with Maine ties who are sentenced to federal prison are held at BOP institutions in other states. The BOP runs primarily in-person visiting with only limited video, so use the BOP inmate locator to find the institution and check its specific visiting rules. If someone was recently arrested on a federal charge, they may be held temporarily in a Maine county jail under a U.S. Marshals contract during the designation period.

Immigration custody in Maine has changed dramatically and recently, so be careful with older information. Maine has no dedicated ICE detention center. For a stretch, ICE detainees were held at a couple of Maine county jails, primarily the Cumberland County Jail in Portland and Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset, under contracts with the federal government. In early 2026, the federal government pulled its immigration detainees out of those Maine jails and largely wound down its large-scale operation in the state. Then in April 2026, Maine enacted a law clarifying that county and municipal jails may refuse to hold someone solely for a civil immigration violation, and Cumberland County voted to end its ICE detention arrangement. The practical effect for families: people detained by ICE in Maine are now typically moved out of state, often far away, soon after being taken into custody. To locate someone in ICE custody, use the ICE Online Detainee Locator, which needs the person's A-Number (the nine-digit alien registration number) or their name plus country of birth, and check it often, because transfers happen fast and the out-of-state facility may be in a different region entirely.

A note on staying connected

Video is good for one thing money can't really replace: seeing a face, watching a kid wave, reading an expression. And in Maine, at the state level, it increasingly costs you nothing, so use it.

But be honest with yourself about what carries the weight day to day. Mail is the steadiest line there is. It doesn't drop the call, doesn't need a scheduled slot, and the person can hold it and read it again at 2 a.m. when the walls close in. Phone calls are the backbone of staying in touch, the thing you'll actually do most weeks. Video is the bonus on top, the face-to-face when you can get it. Build your routine around mail and calls, and treat video as the thing that makes the distance feel a little smaller.

Related pages:

/prisons/maine

FCC 2026 call and video rate caps guide

Arrest Record Search (affiliate)