Address:
100 Hurst Street
Center, TX 75935
Phone:
936-598-5601
An inmate in the Shelby County 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 Shelby County Jail's commissary will sell your inmate a pre-paid calling card from City Telecoin 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 City Telecoin. Call 318-746-1114 to get information on how to set this up by phone.
When your inmate is booked into Shelby County 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.
Inmate phone services for inmates at the Shelby County Jail are provided by City Tele Coin.
Send an Inmate a Deposit Online to purchase phone cards.
For more information, you can call City Telecoin from 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM CST by dialing 318-746-1114, or email them: onlinesupport@citytelecoin.com.
City Tele Coin also provides the following service for inmates and their families:
Secure messaging of texts.
Video Visitation.
You can find answers to most of your questions on their FAQ page.
There are dozens of third-party for profit companies working with Shelby County Jail and other jails in Texas to provide a way for inmates to phone friends and families at rates that are much less than what jails have been known to charge in the past.
The lower rates come at a cost to inmates though, as most of the profit from these calls pay for other benefits such as television and both indoor and outdoor recreational services from board games to sports and workout equipment.
To find out what phone service is being used for inmates housed in Shelby County, call 936-598-5601, or if the phone service is not noted above, click on one of these companies below, each of which provide service for jails in the state of Texas:
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Collect Calls
Direct Calls
Can I call an inmate in the Shelby County Jail?
Can I leave a message for an inmate in the Shelby County Jail?
Can an inmate in the Shelby County Jail call me?
Can an inmate in the Shelby County Jail call their friends?
How do I accept collect calls from an inmate in the Shelby County Jail?
How much am I charged for accepting a collect call from the Shelby County Jail?
Who should I contact if I’m having difficulty receiving collect calls from the jail or prison?
How much does it cost for an inmate in the Shelby County Jail to call me?
What times are inmates in the Shelby County Jail allowed to make phone calls?
How often can inmates in the Shelby County Jail make phone calls?
What is the inmate telephone service for the Shelby County Jail?
What are the phone companies that facilitate phone calls with jails and prisons?
Can an inmate text me from the phones in the Shelby County Jail?
Can an inmate in the Shelby County Jail buy calling cards?
What is the most that an inmate in the Shelby County Jail can spend on phone calls?
Do I need a credit card to purchase phone credits for an inmate in the Shelby County Jail?
What is the difference between a phone call and a video call?
Can inmates in the Shelby County Jail use their cell phone?
Is it illegal for an inmate to use a cell phone in the Shelby County Jail?
No, you cannot call an inmate in the Shelby County Jail. You can however call 936-598-5601, 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. If they are unable to notify someone at that point, they can try again, this time it will be a collect call that you will have to pay for if your phone service allows you to receive collect calls, once they are classified, processed, dressed and brought to their unit.
However, if the phone they call is a cell phone, which normally do not allow the receipt of collect calls, or your phone service does not allow for collect calls, then you will not be able to receive any phone calls from them until you purchase phone credits from the Shelby County Jail’s inmate calling system.
The inmate phone information for this is located above, at the top of this page. If that information is missing, it is because the facility recently changed companies and you can get the updated details by calling 936-598-5601.
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 Shelby County 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 Shelby County Jail offers that service call the phone company at the top of this page or call the jail at 936-598-5601.
Yes, an inmate in the Shelby County Jail can call you using any of the following three ways:
1. The inmate can call you ‘collect’ if your phone service accepts collect calls.
2. The inmate can call you using a prepaid calling card that they can purchase from the jail’s inmate commissary.
3. The inmate can call you using credits or money that you or someone else purchases 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 936-598-5601 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 Shelby County 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 person accepts a collect call, or the inmate has funds on their prepaid card or phone account, 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 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 Shelby County Jail to control who the inmate can speak with.
When you receive a collect call from the jail, you will first hear a recording that the call is a collect call and coming from a jail and the person’s spoken name. You will then be asked to respond with a prompt or by voicing “yes” that you agree to accept the call. At that point you can either accept it or refuse it.
If you continue to get calls from the jail and don’t want to receive them anymore, you can contact your phone service and request that that number be blocked.
The cost of a collect call is the most expensive call that you can make (or take). In fact, the cost (per minute) for a collect call can often exceed the cost of an international call.
Expect to pay about $1.00 to 1.50 per minute for a collect call. Compared to the cost of a call going through the inmate phone service that the jail contracts with, ‘collect calls’ can be five to ten times more expensive.
If you are having difficulties receiving collect calls from the Shelby County Jail contact your own personal phone service. Keep in mind that your land line service provider is not the same as your cell phone service provider.
The federal government limits the cost of a phone call from any jail in the United States to $0.21 per minute. This is true whether the inmate is using a prepaid card or one of their friends or family members have contracted with the phone service that the jail recommends.
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 have fees as low as $0.05 to $0.10 per minute. 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 Shelby County 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.
In general, other than during scheduled events, you can communicate by phone between the hours of 7:30AM and 10:00PM.
There is no limit to how often an inmate can make phone calls. They are limited only by how much money you are willing to give them to add 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.
The 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 936-598-5601 to get the answers to your questions.
Each of these phone companies provide similar services, and each cannot charge more than $0.21 per minute for domestic calls, however 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
Lattice (nexus telephone)
NCIC
Paytel
Prodigy Solutions
Reliance
Securus
Smart Communications
Tiger
No. Inmates in the Shelby County Jail cannot text from the phones, but more and more jails are bringing in a text service for inmates that can work from kiosks and tablets in their units. For more information, check out the email and text page.
Almost every jail gives inmates and their contacts to either purchase calling cards from commissary or buy phone credits and time online from their phone service. There remain a few jails that still only allow collect calls which is an unfair financial burden on inmates and their families.
To see if the Shelby County Jail allows the purchase of phone cards, check the information at the top of this page or call the jail at 936-598-5601.
There is no limit to how often an inmate can make phone calls. They are limited only by how much money you are willing to give them to add 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.
Most jails also have a way for inmates to purchase prepaid phone cards from their commissary. These jails usually allow the inmate’s trust account to be funded with postal money orders, negating the need for having a credit or debit card altogether.
Call 936-598-5601 to see if the Shelby County 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 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 Shelby County Jail offers 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 936-598-5601 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 Shelby County Jail.
That said, if it is found that you knowingly were doing it, you could have your visitation or 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.
City Telecoin also has a secure messaging service that allows you and your inmate to send and receive messages electronically (after being read by the jail).
Check to see if Shelby County Jail has begun allowing this servce as well.
If you can’t find the information you’re looking for here, contact Shelby County Jail at 936-598-5601 to ask about their rules for phone calls with your inmate.
Many facilities are now placing daily and monthly limits on phone time, so manage your calls wisely to avoid running out of time early in the month.
Jails typically only allow phone calls during certain hours, so work out a call schedule that fits both your schedule and your inmate’s availability.
If your inmate doesn’t call at the arranged time, don’t worry—long lines for phone access or jail lockdowns can disrupt call schedules. Lockdowns due to fights or security issues often result in a temporary halt in phone privileges.
Phone conversations are a crucial way for inmates to connect with loved ones, so make the most of your time together. Avoid arguments that might leave both of you feeling bad.
Keep in mind that all calls are recorded and may be used against your inmate in court. Refrain from discussing their legal case.
Note that some phone companies are collecting voice prints for law enforcement databases.
For more details, visit the official jail website.
