If anybody has some suggestions regarding how to keep the phone cost down or if you know a service that works and is cheaper, please post them to help the other members who are struggling financially to support the person they love in prison.

Thank you all,

rewdiazepam

I agree with the article in that sometimes I feel like I'm being nickeled and dimed to death with all of the fees and surcharges for phone service and for putting money into the account. It mentioned JPAY in the article. I only use that to send emails and I have found it to be reasonable for that purpose. The music and video options are not available in my area and I haven't used JPay to put money into his account. I use the eCommisary option for that and to send in occasional treats from commissary (again for a fee).

With JPay, if I send an email before 7:00 am, it is printed out and given to my boyfriend that same day for the cost of a stamp; not bad, especially if I have news to tell him quickly and don't want to rely on standard mail with a two/ three day delay. Just don't use JPay for sending pictures - it costs an extra "stamp" for each attachment!

Thanks for sharing the article, Rew. It's a very sad situation, but I'm glad somebody is paying attention to it.

I have two sons in prison, so everything is double the expense for me. Thankfully, my Iowa son can send me emails for 25 cents each and I can send emails to him for the same amount. My Colorado son can only receive emails that cost me 50 cents each, but he can't send them back, so he calls me twice a week. Each 20-minute call costs him about $4.00 from his phone account and then also costs me for the minutes on my cell phone. Most of his money comes from me, anyway, so it mostly comes out of my pocket.

A phone call from my Iowa son costs him $2.00 for 20 minutes, because I have a Tracfone cellphone with a phone number that's local to the prison, even though I don't live in that state. When I first set up the Tracfone account, they asked me the geographical location in which the phone would be used the most. I gave them the location where my son is, not where I am, because he's the only person who calls me on this phone.

I have another Tracfone for my Colorado son to call, with a number that's local to his prison. I was a resident of Colorado until recently, so that number was approved by the DOC, when my son first went in. I also use the Colorado phone for my main phone, so I make and receive lots of calls on it.

The Colorado DOC, has a policy that I just found out about a few weeks ago. They won't allow the phone number the inmate calls to be approved unless the residence address matches the area code of the phone. In this day of cell phones and people moving all over the country and being allowed to keep their phone numbers, for the life of me, I can't figure out why the DOC has this policy.

I recently moved away from Colorado and was told by my son and his prison case manger that I must change my phone number to match my new address. That would have been a real hassle! Thankfully, was able to get a supervisor in the Colorado DOC phone approval department to allow me to keep my Colorado phone number and have it stay on my son's approved phone list. I have it in writing, but that's the only way it can be done, as the policy says any exceptions must be approved by a supervisor. She told me to give my son her name and contact info, in case he has any trouble keeping my Colorado number on his phone list, after I send in my updated visitor application with my new address. Knowing how things go, I'll be surprised if he DOESN'T have any trouble.

There's a company called ConsCallHome.com that will give you a phone number that's local to the facility where your loved one is incarcerated, which can be cheaper. But, each person will have to check on the policies of their own facility to be certain and to check in-state rates versus out-of-state rates. I spoke to an agent at ConsCallHome.com and he told me there are a few people using their services in Colorado who don't actually live there. So I know it can work.

With my Iowa son, in-state calls to a different area code/prefix are actually higher than out-of-state calls, which is just the opposite of what I thought it would be. But with calls to the same area code and prefix, they are the cheapest yet. One needs to do one's research, though, to be sure.

The prisons will tell you that phone usage by inmates is a privilege, not a right, and as such, it can be withheld as punishment for misbehavior. The hard-hearted people in society will say that inmates broke the law and therefore have no right to any privileges at all.

However, people need to realize that the person on the other end of the phone call is NOT a criminal and they don't deserve to have communication to their loved ones cut off or priced in the range of exorbitant lunacy. They also need to realize that most inmates will one day be back in society and any grudges they developed by inhumane treatment inside will be carried with them out the prison doors and back into the community. It's in the best interests of our communities to pay close attention to how we treat inmates and their loved ones.

Wow you guys can email??
Ok that's not the way it works hear in Australia we can give our guys $140 from that they have to put money on the phone and there prison by ups. For my love to call me on the landline it's $2.40 for 15 minutes but if he calls my cell it's 2.00 per minute.
I don't know if our system is better or not I do know that my love budgets out every cent that he gets. I can only put the $140 on once a month and I can send it in or drop it off on visits.

I have hard of people in the USA getting local numbers to where there loved ones are to keep the costs of calls down and Google voice as well. I hope that can help a few people.

The phone system in Montana you have to put minimum $25.00 on the phone and they charge $6.95 each time you put money on the phone account, (and near as I can figure) each 15 minute call costs about $3.00 (doesn't help that it's long distance). The on line system doesn't give you any real information and the last time I called the company I the customer service reps accent was so strong, he was hard to understand. I checked out that cons call home company, you pay them a monthly fee to provide a local phone number, but you still had to purchase phone time from whatever company was servicing that facility. The article said that New York State doesn't take commissions and a 15 minute phone call costs just 72 cents. My son was in 2 different facilities in NY, the first one used Talton Communications (he was at an ICE facility) and they were 25 cents a minute for local calls. The other was ICS Solutions (he was in a county holding center) one local phone call cost $2.35, so I don't know how they came up with the $.72.

I am definitely paying too much for phone calls! I am using Securus right now. Phone calls are $4.20 for 20 minutes if you pay up front and $5.00 if they bill you. The only good thing I can say is that they let me transfer the money that I had paid in county although I had to set up a whole new account when he was moved to state. Also, when we get cut off during the middle of a phone call, they only charge me for the minutes used - I guess it's .25 per minute because 10 minutes runs me about $2.50.

I only have a cell phone - no land line - and I had to register it so I could receive calls. Texas would not allow any prepaid cell phones; you have to have a contract with a service provider and they had to verify that so I don't know if a Tracfone would work here.

Anyway we have to limit our calls to what I can afford. Just got this month's bill and it was really high! Guess we talked a lot this month!

I have a friend in prison who comes from a very poor family. He has lived in poverty his entire life. It's not right and it's probably not ok, but I know many are forced to use cell phones to make calls. Otherwise he literally would do his entire sentence with out ever speaking to his family on the phone.

If anyone EVER has to deal with ICS Solutions be aware that if you set up a prepaid phone account ans allow your family member to call more than one specific phone number with first use the account becomes the inmates. When my son was in a county facility locally I had to deal with them. You had to put at least $50 on the phone account. I did it because he was supposed to be there at least 5 days (of course, they moved him the next morning), and I was told all I had to do was call them to get a refund of any unused funds. What they did not tell me was that if I listed more than one phone number they would only be able to send any unused funds to the inmate directly. My son had to write a letter to the companies main office requesting the refund and ask them to send the check here because he did not know where he would be. Of course the check came in his name (and our last names are different). I was very lucky, when I went to deposit the check into my bank account, the teller let me sign his name and then mine on the back of the check.

What a rip off!!! We have to pay $9.95 now, which used to be $7.95 in order to have phone minutes to speak with our son! He gets food because whatever the junk they are feeding him (in this privately owned prison) is a JOKE! I did find out that you can send a money order to them and there is no charge. The same with putting money on my son's account to get his food and other things. My tax dollars are not even taking care of my son because he is in this private prison!!!! And apparently they have to have a library under the law, I guess, but its closed. Its never opened. They have nothing for my son to try and learn while he is in that crap hole!!!! SORRY, IT JUST GETS ME SO ANGRY WHEN I THINK ABOUT IT!!! The real crooks are in office, working in the prison, etc., etc., etc. I think you get what I am saying. UGGGGGGH!

@Heartbroken, If you don't mind my asking, what prison is your son in?

We use Securus. It cost almost $5 for every 20 mins on cell phone. I found out if I planed ahead and send the money via bank "pay bill" function, then I can avoid process fee. But has to wait about a week for the money to arrive in his account.

I am currently in other county to take care of family business. i read on Securus said that they allowed IVop phone number. I got a local google voice number, but was not able to receive his phone calls. So we will be out of phone calls for a while. International phone calls via cell phone is $2.50 per min, there is no way I can afford it.

Their facility is going through a new video visitation system. I was hoping we can set it up online so I can visit him oversea. But he said that it is not working at all so don't waste my time on it. Has anyone tried their video visitation?

This is another thing that they are going to get money from. Before the change, we were able to go visit him for free. Walk-in hours are afternoons and nights, no appointment needed. Even though it is not physically face to face visiting (video screen only), it was still free and convenient. After the suppose "upgrade", we will have to make appointment first and the walk-in hours are night times only. The at home video visitation with discount period, it cost $5 for 20 mins visit (used to be 30 mins).

Money money and money....

Hang on there going to charge you to see him???

Take from the poor give to the rich I gess.

I just had to add money to both of hubby's accounts (phone and commissary). Securus is the phone service and they charge me $6.95 to add money to his account, but phone calls are only 5 cents/minute, so we can talk for almost an hour for only $3.00, but we talk twice a day, so it adds up, still tons cheaper than the $7.95/15 minute calls when he was at County. JPay handles his commissary money and they charge me $5.95 to add money to his account. Isn't it enough that we lost 2/3 of our household income when they took him away? Why do they have to keep taking and taking?

Yes. In his jail, the visitation is by cameras and screens. No physical visit. Now they upgrade it, they cut down the screens available for walk-in visit and cut down the hours to only 2.5 hours at night. Very obviously try to push everyone to pay $5 for 20 mins online at-home video visitation.

@kALI1970, I refuse to pay the almost $7 processing fee. So I pay advance by online banking to Securus to avoid it. It is so nice that you cane talk with him for an hour for only $3.

It is government allowed robbery, at this time and age, why does it cost so much to call someone? Especially for someone how is force to lose their job and make no money?

That's, that's ....disgusting!!! Talk about robbing people!!
Is there anyway to push for changes on this??