One of the biggest hurdles to cross when a loved one goes to prison is the lack of constant communication. It’s hard removing them from your daily routine and even harder still to come to terms with the fact that you can no longer easily communicate with them at the drop of a hat.
While going to prison doesn’t mean that you can’t speak with your loved one at all, it does mean that doing so requires more effort and planning. As a result, once you’ve done an inmate search and know for sure what prison your loved one is incarcerated in, you can begin the preparations for communication.
That leaves us with the question: can you call an inmate? Here’s what you need to know:
It’s Going to Take a While Before You Can Call
When inmates first arrive at the prison that will be their home for the foreseeable future, a lot goes into getting them settled in. Because modern prisons aren’t focused on punishment and instead on rehabilitation, there’s a long process that new inmates need to go through to integrate into the prison system fully.
During this processing time, inmates must undergo a medical exam and a psychological evaluation to be categorized. While this may sound harsh, the categorization process is to ensure the safety of all inmates and staff. Every inmate must go through the same process. During this process, the prison will update its inmate list and add your loved one to the database to appear on an inmate search.
While this process occurs, it’s unlikely that you’ll have contact with your loved one in prison. During this time, they’ll restrict mail, phone calls, visits, and other communications with the outside world as they don’t want any outside influence while this processing occurs. This isn’t to try and limit your contact; it is simply because the officers want to ensure that they have all of their bases covered.
Once this process is over, the restriction will be lifted, and you will once again be able to contact your loved one.
Knowing the Basics
The question still stands: can you call an inmate? In short, the answer is no. However, the inmate can contact you. Typically, there are a set number of rules that an inmate must follow when they are getting ready to call you or are allowed to use the phone.
One thing that you need to know is that an inmate’s call window is relatively short. Inmates may be able to call all day, but their designated window will be only a portion of that time. They cannot call before a particular time in the morning and after a specific time at night, usually before the morning roll call and after the evening roll call.
As stated previously, inmates are never allowed to accept incoming calls. Though you may send them letters using the addresses you can look up through an inmate search, phone calls must all be outgoing to be better regulated. Inmates also call “collect,” meaning that they have to be able to reach a landline for the receiver to accept the charges of the call.
Collect calls cannot be made to cell phones, though, and so many loved ones will create an account to load money for an inmate to make phone calls.
There May Be Times When an Inmate Can’t Call
There are different reasons why an inmate might not be able to call at any given time. There are a lot of other moving parts in a prison system, and there are a lot of different factors that we need to consider when thinking about the frequency and ability of an inmate to call. If you’re expecting a call from an inmate and your inmate search says that they have not changed prison locations, here are a few reasons why you might not receive a call:
- A lockdown at the prison
- A lack of funds in the inmate’s account
- Severe weather conditions or power outages
- You aren’t on the verified contact list
- They don’t know your phone number
In today’s technologically advanced world, sometimes we forget that we might not have access to that technology all the time, and the prison’s phone system is an example. Your loved one will not have a miniature computer in their pocket to look up numbers, call or text indiscriminately, and more. These are all factors that you need to be prepared for.
What You Need to Do to Prepare
Before you start receiving calls, some states require you to be an eligible recipient. After you do an inmate search and figure out what center your loved one is at, you might need to apply online to be on the approved telephone list. Inmates can also request to put your number on the approved number list, but it can take additional time if they don’t know your number.
Because inmates need to call collect or use a prepaid service, you can also add money to that service for them to use. You should also check with your service provider to make sure that spam calls or collect calls are not automatically blocked. Otherwise, you won’t receive the call when the inmate can call.
Most importantly, you must understand that all outgoing inmate calls are monitored and recorded. It might take a little getting used to when you first start accepting these calls, but having that knowledge going in is vital to know what to expect.
Jail Exchange
At Jail Exchange, we understand that having a friend or family member go to prison is difficult for everyone involved. It’s something that people struggle with processing and can take a massive toll on their physical and emotional health. However, we also know that having knowledge going into the situation is essential.
With Jail Exchange, we offer an inmate search and inmate list feature so that you know where your friend or family member is currently located, even when you might not be able to call right away. We also offer answers to frequently asked questions to ensure that you stay well-informed.
Check out Jail Exchange today to start understanding the process and what to expect.
