How To Call an Inmate the First Time

Getting a loved one incarcerated in jail is usually a trying moment. Everyone wants to know why their loved one may have been arrested, how they are doing, and a string of other issues. Unfortunately, no inmate can carry their phone to jail, making instant communication difficult. When you thought detention centers could not raise the barriers to education further, they exceeded expectations by ensuring the inmate cannot call you directly, yet they need cash to make calls. They are only allowed to eat, drink and receive visitors at only with the permission and rules of the facility.

It is at the backdrop of all the action at the jail/prison/penitentiary and the rules that make it necessary to ask the pertinent question:” How do I make the First call to an inmate?” The blunt and most accurate answer to this question is that you cannot make a first or any other call to an inmate. This is far-reaching as you are not even allowed to make calls to the lockup facility and leave a message to the staff. Even a polite call with a message will be declined to follow the rules.

How Calls Are Managed

Jails, Prisons, and Penitentiaries have set up a definite period for inmates to make calls. When this happens, the time and even day of the week varies from facility to facility. All the calls are subject to the rules, and the privilege may be revoked due to misbehavior.

Collect calls are the most common calls inmates can make though many phone providers provide different calling options. Most jails have phone services managed by third-party vendors. The vendors help the inmates, and their families create accounts that allow them to fund accounts and receive calls. The calls may be monitored unless it is privileged. The most common phone providers are

Securus
Global Tel Link
IC Solutions

When Inmates can Call

Diffrent inmates will be allowed to take calls at different times. Inmates who have just been arrested may be allowed to call their loved ones in less than 24 hours or right after the booking at the lockup facility is done. Those who have received a sentence from the judge must be classified before making calls or receiving visitors and mail.

The classification process is vital and entails medical, physical, and psychological examination to help the administration to get the proper housing for the inmate. Classification may take a day to a few weeks depending on the status of the lockup facility. The classification of inmates helps to reorient incarceration from a punitive to a rehabilitative angle. Once the inmates have been tested by the staff, they are assigned a location and a treatment that befits the crime.

When the process is complete, the inmate must follow a defined protocol for accessing the phone services. The protocol in the lockup facility includes strict time periods when inmates can make calls; calls can only be made after the morning count is done, and no inmate can access the phone during lockdowns. As highlighted earlier, inmates are not allowed to receive incoming calls but instead use the call collection service.

Inmates’ ability to call you may be impeded by the following factors

The inmate intake process is incomplete; hence no access to the phone system
A lockdown is in progress; hence no inmate is allowed to make calls
Insufficient funds in the inmate’s phone account
Power outages or severe weather conditions can disrupt calls
Inmates who have been barred from calls due to bad behavior
When facilities restrict calls to only verified family members or those on the visitors’ list
The inmate doesn’t know your number

Steps To Receive Calls

Receiving calls from an inmate is procedural. A few institutions may let inmates call their loved ones without many restrictions.

Nonetheless, all calls are timed, with each inmate having a quota of calls they cannot exceed in a week or day. Typically the steps are as follows:

Get on the inmate Phone List

Most facilities will request inmates to provide a list of phone numbers after they are booked. Only people on the inmate phone list can receive the call from that particular inmate. Due to panic or other reasons, some inmates forget to add vital numbers to the list. Luckily the list can be revised from time to time. You can help jog an inmate’s memory of your number by sending them a mail with your details.

Texas allows anyone to register their phone number with the Department of Corrections though it may not imply that you will receive calls from the inmate. In most cases, you can have the application to have your phone number approved through the detention center’s phone service provider. You can either print the form and mail it to the jail or complete the application online. Working online is the best bet as it safeguards against the jail staff from losing the application in the mail.

You may have to perform an inmate search and confirm that an inmate is in jail or prison before sending your contacts by mail. You may also find detail on the phone service provider on the jail’s website. Read the details and any other information to avoid getting into trouble with the jail official and having the call discontinued or revoked.

Wait For Approval

Applying to be part of the inmate’s contacts does not necessarily mean that you will receive the calls. The account has to be confirmed, and your number approved. The timeline for the approval by the phone provider is shown on their website. Feel free to contact the phone provider if you have not received a call from the inmate after the approval timeline has elapsed.

Accept the First Call

Talking to a loved one convicted in jail is the end goal. Unfortunately, some people may not manage to receive the call whenever they notice that it is a strange number. It is best to be ready to take strange numbers, especially when you have a loved one in prison who will call you on a strange number on their first call.

Once you receive the call, you will receive a prompt indicating that you are receiving the call from an inmate from a particular facility. The call is times and may also be short when you have low airtime on your phone. Try to share important details before the call disconnects. Just keep in mind that the call is recorded, so you do not share details that you will not share in public, especially incriminating details.

Reasons the Phone May Not Go through

While you and the inmate may go through all the above processes and the inmate makes a call to you, sometimes the call may not just connect. Fortunately, most of the reasons a phone call in prison may not connect are well-known and boil down to the following reasons:

You provided a Cell phone number. Cell phones cannot typically receive inmate calls.
Your telephone service provider does not support or block connect calls
You are using a Google Voice number

A call may also be dropped once it is connected due to having call waiting or enabling three-way calling. It is best to correct these problems in advance o ensure your first call from an inmate is not interrupted.

Ensuring Inmates Have Cheaper Calls

While in the process of getting yourself approved to receive inmate calls, it is best to find out the prices of most telephone service providers. Unfortunately, most providers charge the highest rate allowed by the FCC. The charges may also increase at any time. Therefore, it is a no-brainer that reducing the call cost of an inmate is very important.

You can start reducing the bill you incur by reducing the frequency of calls and not using the maximum allocated time. This can be achieved by prioritizing items you need to discuss with your loved one. Only deal with the essentials whenever possible. Planning the conversation can help reduce lulls and awkward silence that unnecessarily make a call long without adding any meaning.

You can also choose to have one long call per week rather than many short calls daily. This helps reduce the charges from bills such as connection fees incurred in each call, regardless of length.

Conclusion

Calling to jail or from outside the jail help to bring a ray of hope to inmates. Unfortunately, the prison system has made it difficult or nearly impossible for inmates to talk. Fortunately, by following the procedure, any inmate can make calls to loved ones outside the jail. Setting yourself up for the service is easy, but it requires diligence to avoid common mistakes. Once you have the call, try to talk, knowing the call is recorded while minding the calling rates.