Inmate Video Visitation in Massachusetts

If someone you love is locked up in Massachusetts, video can save you a long drive across the state, but how it works, and what it costs, depends entirely on which kind of facility they're in. So the first thing to nail down is whether your person is in a state prison, a county jail, or federal or immigration custody, because that determines the vendor, the cost, and the rules.

Massachusetts splits custody three ways, and each handles video differently. The state prison system (Massachusetts DOC) runs 13 institutions. County jails and houses of correction, run by elected sheriffs, handle people awaiting trial and serving shorter sentences. And federal and immigration custody play by their own rules, with Massachusetts holding one federal prison and a single jail that handles ICE detention. Figure out which bucket your person is in first, because everything else flows from that.

Do Massachusetts state prisons offer video visitation?

Yes. The Massachusetts Department of Correction (DOC) offers both in-person and video visits across its institutions, and it supports video visits through Securus Video Connect for pre-approved visitors. You register with the vendor, verify your identity, and connect from your phone, tablet, or computer once you're on the approved list.

In-person visiting also operates at state prisons, with rules that vary by institution and security level (some allow contact visits, others are non-contact). To get on the approved list, you submit the DOC's visitor application, which goes through a background review covering criminal history, warrants, restraining orders, and active cases. Note that attorney video visits are handled separately, on Zoom, under a different DOC procedure.

One honest note on cost: Massachusetts moved to video visiting department-wide during the pandemic and at that time offered a set number of free video visits per person. Whether free sessions are still offered, and how many, changes over time and by facility, so don't assume, check the current rate and any free-visit allowance on the vendor's page for the specific institution before you schedule.

County jails and houses of correction

Massachusetts county jails and houses of correction are run by elected sheriffs, and each picks its own vendor, so this is where cost and platform vary the most.

Securus is the most common video vendor across Massachusetts county facilities. Worcester County, Middlesex County (Billerica), and Plymouth County all run video visits through Securus Video Connect, where you create an account, get on the inmate's pre-approval list, and schedule onsite or remote visits. Some counties use other providers, Norfolk County's phone service, for instance, runs through GTL/ViaPath, so always confirm the vendor on the specific facility's page before creating an account.

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 different vendor's 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 during set blocks.

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.

Massachusetts 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: onsite is sometimes free or cheaper during set blocks, remote tends to cost, and there are usually advance-registration rules.

Setting up a video visit

The steps are roughly the same whichever vendor you're dealing with:

1. Find the exact facility first, then its vendor. Confirm whether your person is in a state prison, a county jail, or federal/ICE custody, then look up that facility's vendor. For the DOC and many counties it's Securus, but don't guess.

2. Create your account and verify your identity, usually with a government photo ID.

3. Add your inmate and get on the approved list. You'll need the correct name and DOC or booking number, and the person generally must have you on their approved visitor list.

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

If your person is in federal Bureau of Prisons custody, Massachusetts has one BOP facility: the Federal Medical Center (FMC) Devens, a medical facility in Ayer, in the north-central part of the state. 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 and isn't in the BOP locator yet, they're likely still in U.S. Marshals custody during the designation period.

Immigration custody in Massachusetts is concentrated in one place and is a fast-moving situation, so be careful with older information. The Plymouth County Correctional Facility is the only facility in Massachusetts that holds ICE detainees, doing so under a federal contract through the Plymouth County Sheriff's Department. Several other Massachusetts county jails ended their ICE arrangements in recent years, leaving Plymouth as the last one. Massachusetts has no facility that detains women for ICE, and amid heightened enforcement in 2025 and 2026, ICE has used an office building in Burlington as a short-term processing and holding site before transferring people, often to Plymouth or out of state. Transfers can happen within hours, sometimes to facilities in other parts of the country, so move quickly to confirm where your person is. 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. Family and social visits at Plymouth's ICE side are non-contact, and immigration bonds can't be posted at the jail itself; they go through an ICE-ERO office (the regional one is in Burlington).

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. When your person is held across the state, or shuffled between facilities, that matters.

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. (In Massachusetts, note that several facilities now route physical mail through a digital scanning service, so what your person receives may be a printed copy, write anyway, it still lands.) 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/massachusetts

FCC 2026 call and video rate caps guide

Arrest Record Search (affiliate)