An inmate in the Santa Ana Jail can call you using one or more of the following three methods, however during booking the facility allows each offender at least one free call to a friend, family member or bond company.
1. If your phone service - usually your land line - accepts collect calls, then they can call you collect. Note: Mobile phones don't usually accept collect calls.
2. The Santa Ana Jail's commissary will sell your inmate a pre-paid calling card from Smart Communications that they can use to phone you or others.
3. The inmate can call you using credits or money that you or someone else purchases from Smart Communications. Call 727-349-1561 for help setting up your account, or submit a question online.
When your inmate is booked into Santa Ana Jail, they provide a list of a limited number of people that they will allow to visit them and make phone calls to. These must be approved by the facility first.
Further information, including cost, daily phone call limits and times of the day and evening when calls can be made, including a complete list of Frequently Asked Questions and Answers, is below.
Address:
62 Civic Center Plaza
Santa Ana, CA 92701
Phone:
714-245-8100
Phone accounts with inmates can be set up using two methods:
PrePaid Collect (PPC) allows you to deposit money into an account which is tied to a specific telephone number... your cell phone number OR home telephone number.When you have funds on a PPC account, ANY inmate may call you at that number. Every time you accept a call, your account is debited.
PIN Debit Accounts (PIN Debit) belong to a specific inmate, and the inmate may use those funds to call ANY phone number that is approved by the facility, not just your number(s).
It could be another friend or anyone.
If you want to allow any inmate to call your phone, you should set up a PrePaid Collect (PPC) account.
If you simply want to deposit funds so that an inmate can call anyone (other friends, etc.) then it is recommended that you get a PIN Debit (PIN) account.
More information on using Smart Communications to communicate by phone with an inmate.
Orange County inmates use a phone service called Smart Communications.
It's up to you what option the inmate whose phone calls you are paying for gets to use.
First option... PrePaid Collect (PPC) allows you to deposit money into an account which is tied to a specific telephone number... your cell phone number OR home telephone number.
When you have funds on a PPC account, ANY inmate may call you at that number. Every time you accept a call, your account is debited.
Second option... PIN Debit Accounts (PIN Debit) belong to a specific inmate, and the inmate may use those funds to call ANY phone number that is approved by the facility, not just your number(s).
More information on using Smart Communications to communicate by phone with an inmate.
Can I call an inmate in the Santa Ana Jail?
Can I leave a message for an inmate in the Santa Ana Jail?
Can an inmate in the Santa Ana Jail call me?
Can an inmate in the Santa Ana Jail call their friends?
How much does it cost for an inmate in the Santa Ana Jail to call me?
What times are inmates in the Santa Ana Jail allowed to make phone calls?
How often can inmates in the Santa Ana Jail make phone calls?
What is the inmate telephone service for the Santa Ana Jail?
What are the phone companies that facilitate phone calls with jails and prisons?
Can an inmate text me from the phones in the Santa Ana Jail?
What is the most that an inmate in the Santa Ana Jail can spend on phone calls?
Do I need a credit card to purchase phone credits for an inmate in the Santa Ana Jail?
What is the difference between a phone call and a video call?
Can inmates in the Santa Ana Jail use their cell phone?
Is it illegal for an inmate to use a cell phone in the Santa Ana Jail?
Can I get in trouble for accepting a call from an inmate using a cell phone in the Santa Ana Jail?
No, you cannot call an inmate in the Santa Ana Jail. You can however call 714-245-8100 or search online, to see if your inmate is in custody.
When an offender is first arrested and is being booked into jail, they are allowed one or two free phone calls to notify friends or family of their situation.
The information for Smart Communications is located at the top of this page. If that information is missing, it is because the facility recently changed companies. However, you can get updated details by calling 714-245-8100.
It is rare that a jail (or prison) will accept messages for an inmate. Of all the thousands of jails in the United States there are probably less than one hundred that have a message line. Jails in the state of Minnesota are the one exception.
There are two other exceptions to this rule:
1. The Santa Ana Jail will accept a message if there is a family emergency such as a death in the family. In a case like this the message will be conveyed by a jail chaplain or someone that is very high ranking in leadership. Inmates are already under a lot of stress and emotion, and the staff realizes this. It is for this reason they will be very careful how they pass the message along and being watchful afterwards.
2. Many of the inmate phone systems used by jails allow for messages to be left for a small fee, usually less than $1.00 for a minute. It is done in the form of a voicemail from you. To see if the Santa Ana Jail offers that service call Smart Communications, with additional information found at the top of this page or call the jail at 714-245-8100.
Yes, an inmate in the Santa Ana Jail can call you:
3. The inmate can call you using credits or money that you or someone else purchase from the jail's inmate phone service. This information can be found at the top of this page.
If you can’t find this jail’s phone service - outlined above - it means that they may have recently changed it. Call the jail at 714-245-8100 to get the information you need.
Also, it is becoming standard that when an inmate is booked in jail, they must make a list of a limited number of people that they will allow to visit them and/or make phone calls to. If the Santa Ana Jail requires this, then you will have to be on their list to receive phone calls from your inmate.
Yes. If a person is on the inmate’s approved phone contact list and the inmate has funds on their prepaid card or Smart Communications phone service, there are no restrictions based on whether the person and inmate are related or not.
The only exception to that is if you, as the person who funds their Smart Communications inmate phone account, puts restrictions on the account, so that the account can only be used to communicate with you and not other people. This allows you and not the Santa Ana Jail to control who the inmate can speak with.
What a call costs depends on the jail’s phone provider, Smart Communications, and on the type of account you use. Check with Smart Communications for current rates.
In general, most of these companies are honest and trustworthy. The complete list can be found by scrolling down this page further.
There are independent companies that you can find and purchase phone time from that advertise low per-minute fees. They usually accomplish this by selling you blocks of time that you may never use, or they have exorbitant fees in other areas. Be a smart consumer and study these offers carefully.
In general, inmates in the Santa Ana Jail can make phone calls between the time when breakfast ends until ‘lights out’ at the end of the evening.
They will not allow phone calls to be made during meals, head counts, lockdowns or during shift changes.
Inmates who are workers (trustees), are on work release or have other responsibilities are also limited to when they can make phone calls, as their schedules take priority over personal time.
Ask the Santa Ana Jail during which hours inmates can make phone calls.
Ask the Santa Ana Jail whether it limits how often an inmate can make phone calls. Calls are also limited by how much money you are willing to give them to add Smart Communications phone time.
When and if there are limits, the limits never apply to phone time with their lawyer or legal matters related to their criminal court case.
There are some jails and prisons that limit how much an inmate can spend on phone calls, specifically inmates in the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons, which limits federal prisoners to a $300 'phone spend' every month.
Information about the Smart Communications inmate telephone service for this facility can be found at the top of this page. If the information is missing that means that the facility recently changed carriers and has not updated the information. In that case, call the jail at 714-245-8100 to get the answers to your questions.
Each of these phone companies provide similar services, and it is a very competitive industry due to the size of the market in which their customers are literally ‘captive’ in every sense of the word.
Amtel Phones
CIDNET
City Tele Coin
Correct Solutions Group
Correct Pay
Ctel
Gettingout
GTL
Homewav
ICSolutions
Inmate Canteen
Inmate Sales
NCIC
Paytel
Prodigy Solutions
Reliance
Securus
Smart Communications
Tiger
No. Inmates in the Santa Ana Jail cannot text from the phones, but more and more jails, including this one, are bringing in a TextBehind text service for inmates that can work from kiosks and tablets in their units. For more information, check out the email and text page.
Ask the Santa Ana Jail whether it limits how often an inmate can make phone calls. Calls are also limited by how much money you are willing to give them to add Smart Communications phone time.
There are some jails and prisons that limit how much an inmate can spend on phone calls, specifically inmates in the United States Bureau of Prisons, which limits federal prisoners to a $300 spend every month, however during the holiday months that number is increased to $400 per month.
Of the dozens of phone companies listed above that do business with the jails and prisons, there are only a few that have a way for you to use cash to purchase phone credits or phone time from them, usually in an ATM machine at check cashing outlets, and only a couple that have a way for you to fund an inmate phone account by mailing them a money order or cashier check.
If you don’t have a credit or debit card from a bank, you can always get a prepaid one at thousands of check cashing locations across the country.
The commissary may fund the inmate’s trust account with postal money orders, negating the need for having a credit or debit card altogether.
Call 714-245-8100 to see if the Santa Ana Jail’s commissary has prepaid phone cards or check out the commissary page.
A video call is no different than a video visit. It allows both the inmate and their approved contacts to see each other during the conversation. This is becoming the preferred method for inmates and their friends and family members to communicate, as it costs pretty much the same, as visual contact communicates on a different level than just the voice.
Jails and prisons that have the option of video calls and video visits also most likely have handheld tablets for inmate use. This gives the inmate the ability to communicate from their cell or a remote corner of the unit, which adds a level of privacy that a kiosk on the wall does not offer.
To see if Santa Ana Jail offers GETTING OUT video calls, go to the Visitation page for information. If you can’t find it there, it may be because this facility recently changed companies, so you can call the jail at 714-245-8100 for details on how to arrange video calls.
No, they cannot use their cell phone.
Inmates have their cell phones taken from them when they are initially booked into jail and will not get them back until they are released, provided the phone is/was not kept by the arresting agency as evidence in a criminal investigation.
Cell phones are considered contraband and a security risk to a jail or prison. All communication: Written, spoken or video, other than an inmate’s communication with their lawyer, are monitored by the facility.
If an inmate is caught with a cell phone that has somehow been smuggled into a jail, the inmate will be charged with a crime. It is considered more serious than being caught with drugs, as a cell phone can be used to intimidate potential witnesses, arrange an escape or run a criminal enterprise outside of the jail’s walls.
It is unlikely that you can get charged with a crime for communicating with an inmate using a cell phone while incarcerated in the Santa Ana Jail.
That said, if it is found that you knowingly were doing it, you could have your visitation or Smart Communications phone privileges suspended, or even permanently terminated by the jail.
If you were involved in the smuggling of the phone, that is a criminal offense. It may also be a crime if you were adding ‘minutes’ onto a prepaid phone that you knew was smuggled into the jail and was being used for illegal purposes.