How to Call an Inmate Back: Accounts, Costs & Approval

To call an inmate back, you need to set up a prepaid account with the phone service provider that handles their facility, register your phone number on that account, and wait for the inmate to add you to their approved contact list. Incarcerated people cannot receive incoming calls, so “calling back” really means funding your number so they can dial you during their scheduled phone time. If you have the inmate’s full legal name, their facility ID, and a credit or debit card, the setup takes about fifteen minutes.

Find Out Which Company Runs the Phones

Every correctional facility contracts with a single communications company, and the inmate has no choice in the matter.¹ The two you’ll run into most are Securus Technologies and ViaPath Technologies, which operates a consumer platform called ConnectNetwork. (ViaPath was Global Tel Link, or GTL, until January 2022.)² Some smaller regional carriers also handle individual counties.

Check the facility’s own website, call its visitation office, or search by state and facility name on the Securus or ConnectNetwork sites. The provider’s site will tell you right away whether it services that location.

Open a Prepaid Account on Your Phone Number

Prepaid is the standard way to accept inmate calls. The old collect-call model still exists in a few places, but most cell phones and VoIP lines can’t accept traditional collect calls, so prepaid is usually the only option that works. When a call comes in on a number you’ve funded, the cost comes out of your balance automatically.

On Securus, the account type is called AdvanceConnect. You go to the Securus website, click Sign Up, pick the state and facility, enter your details and your phone number, and fund the account with a credit or debit card.³ On ViaPath/ConnectNetwork, it’s called AdvancePay, and the process is close to identical.⁴

You’ll need the inmate’s full legal name and facility ID number. If you don’t have the ID, the facility’s inmate search tool or main phone line can get it for you. You can register more than one phone number on the same account, so the inmate can reach you at home, at work, or on your cell.

The Inmate Has to Approve You Too

Your prepaid account is only half of what has to happen. The inmate has to add your number to their approved contact list inside the facility. In the federal Bureau of Prisons, inmates can keep up to 30 numbers on that list and can edit it once per calendar month through the TRULINCS system.⁵ State facilities set their own limits. The pattern is the same: the inmate submits your number, staff review it, and only then can it be dialed.

Approval can take anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks. If your account is funded but the phone hasn’t rung, the delay is usually on the facility’s side while they verify the number. If the facility has an email or messaging system for inmates, a quick note telling the person your number is ready can speed things up.

Answering the First Call

An inmate call doesn’t look like a normal call. Your phone rings from a number you don’t recognize, and when you answer, an automated recording identifies the facility and the inmate by name. The recording tells you to press a key, usually 1 or 5, to accept the call and the charges. If you don’t press it in the few seconds the prompt gives you, the call drops.

This is where most first-time recipients lose the first call. The prompt plays once. If voicemail picks up before you do, the system treats it as a failed connection, and the inmate has to try again, sometimes after waiting for the next scheduled phone time.

Why Calls Don’t Connect

The single most common reason a call doesn’t get through is your phone’s spam filter. Inmate calls originate from numbers your phone has never seen, and modern smartphones silence or block unfamiliar callers by default. Before the call is expected, turn off features like “Silence Unknown Callers” on iPhone or the equivalent on Android, and disable any third-party spam blocker.

Other common culprits:

Your prepaid balance is empty. If the account has no funds, the call won’t ring. Check the balance before the inmate’s phone time.
You’re on a VoIP or internet-based line. Some VoIP services don’t play well with prison phone systems. If calls keep failing on a VoIP number, register a traditional cell number instead.
Your number isn’t approved yet. Confirm with the inmate by mail or facility message that the number cleared review.
The system detected a three-way call. Prison phone systems watch for call forwarding and conferencing. Even an accidental call-waiting click can trigger a disconnect.

What a Call Costs

Prison call rates have come down sharply under federal rules. The Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act of 2022 directed the FCC to make rates for calls from correctional facilities “just and reasonable,”⁶ and the FCC adopted rate caps that take full effect on April 6, 2026.¹

Maximum per-minute rates for audio calls, including a $0.02 facility fee:⁷

Prisons: $0.11 per minute
Large jails (1,000+ population): $0.10 per minute
Medium jails (350–999): $0.12 per minute
Small jails (100–349): $0.13 per minute
Very small jails (50–99): $0.15 per minute
Extremely small jails (under 50): $0.19 per minute

A 15-minute prison call runs $1.65 at the capped rate. At the highest tier, for the smallest jails, that same call is $2.85. The FCC also banned the ancillary fees and site commissions that used to inflate the true cost of a call, so the per-minute rate should now be what you actually pay.⁸

One cost note worth checking before you load the account too heavily: federal inmates who take part in First Step Act recidivism reduction programming get 300 free phone minutes a month, roughly twenty 15-minute calls.⁹

Rules That Can Cut the Call Off

Every call except an attorney call can be monitored and recorded. The warden sets the procedures, and inmates are told their calls may be listened to.¹⁰ When you press the key to accept the call, the automated prompt tells you the call is subject to recording, and your acceptance is your consent.

Federal calls are ordinarily capped at 15 minutes, with a warning tone before the system cuts off.⁵ State facilities vary; some allow up to 30 minutes. Don’t try to stretch a conversation by having the inmate hang up and dial right back. Some facilities restrict back-to-back calls to the same number.

Phone privileges can be suspended for attempting three-way calls, using call forwarding, discussing illegal activity, or using threatening language. The system detects conferencing and forwarding automatically, and a single violation can shut off phone access for weeks or longer.⁵ If someone else at your end picks up another line or clicks over on call waiting, the call can drop and the inmate can take the hit.

Keeping the Account Funded

Once the account is live, keeping money on it is the single most important thing you can do to make sure calls come through. Providers let you add funds through their website, their app, or an automated phone line. Cards are fastest. ConnectNetwork’s AdvancePay also takes money orders, though those take longer to process.⁴

Most providers offer low-balance alerts by text or email and an auto-reload feature that tops off the account when it dips below a threshold you set. Auto-reload is worth turning on if the budget allows, because a missed call on an empty balance means the inmate has to wait for the next phone opportunity to try again. Check your call history now and then through the online account. Attempted calls that didn’t connect are the signal to look again at your spam settings and your line type.

1
Federal Communications Commission. Incarcerated People’s Communications Services
2
ViaPath Technologies. GTL Becomes ViaPath Technologies, Launches Expanded Reintegration Services
3
Securus Technologies. How to Get Started
4
ConnectNetwork. ConnectNetwork AdvancePay – Convenient Prepaid Calling
5
Federal Bureau of Prisons. Federal Bureau of Prisons Program Statement 5264.08 – Inmate Telephone Regulations
6
Congress.gov. S.1541 – 117th Congress – Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act of 2022
7
Federal Register. Incarcerated People’s Communication Services – Implementation of the Martha Wright-Reed Act – Rates for Interstate and International Incarcerated People’s Communication Services
8
Federal Register. Incarcerated People’s Communication Services – Implementation of the Martha Wright-Reed Act – Rates for Intrastate Incarcerated People’s Communication Services
9
Federal Bureau of Prisons. FBOP Updates to Phone Call Policies and Time Credit System
10
eCFR. 28 CFR 540.102 – Monitoring of Inmate Telephone Calls