What We Do
Locate a phone number that will be a local call from the prison/jail
Set up your local number to ring to your home or cell phone. Your existing number will not change.
Sign up for a local phone number to the prison. When the inmate calls you using the local phone number, the call will automatically be routed to your existing home or cell phone. The cost of the call charged by the prison will be reduced to the lower local rate instead of the high, long-distance rate.
Most prisons and jails in the United States and Canada have considerably lower rates for calls placed to local numbers.
U.S. FEDERAL PRISONS
Local Rate - .06 per minute
Long Distance Rate - .21 per minute
CANADA FEDERAL PRISONS
Local Rate .50 per call
Long Distance Rate - .11 per minute plus .22 connection fee
Someone in a correctional facility that you want to talk to.
A phone number guaranteed to be a local call from the correctional facility. (Merely having the same area code DOES NOT make it a local call.)
An existing home or cell phone account.
A credit card, debit card, or pre-paid card, or checking account
A prepaid (advance pay) account with the institution's phone carrier OR the inmate's ability to use the inmate phone debit account or phone card.
Locate a phone number that will be a local call from the prison/jail
Set up your local number to ring to your home or cell phone. Your existing number will not change.
Step 1: Sign up for a local number. The local number will be programmed to ring to your home phone or cell phone. Your home or cell phone number will not change.
Step 2: Give the inmate the new phone number. The inmate will be required to add the new number to their list of approved numbers. Corrections Canada will call the local number, forwarding to you, for verification.
Step 3: Ensure that the inmate has funds available on his/her phone card. Traditional collect calls are not possible using a SaveOnPrisonCalls local phone number. When the inmate calls you direct on the local number, the inmate will be charged the local rate of .50 + tax per call* (up to 60 minutes), deducted from their phone card. (*Canada federal prisons rate).
Step 4: Once the number is approved by Corrections Canada and the number is added to their approved call list, start talking for less!
Save on the cost of calls from loved ones by setting up a local phone number
No. There is no way to go around the contracted phone provider for the prison. SaveOnPrisonCalls merely provides you with a phone number that will be a local call from the facility, so that the rate charged by the contracted phone provider will be at the lower rate, saving you a considerable amount of money.
No. The inmate will still use the contracted phone provider and prison phone system and the calls are subject to the same monitoring by prison staff as calls to your long-distance number would be. The only difference is you will be paying a cheaper rate for the calls because the call will be a local call.
U.S. Federal, State and local prison collect calls can only be directly accepted on a per-call basis when your phone company has a billing arrangement with the prison's phone provider. To be able to accept calls using this service, you need to be able to set up a pre-paid account with the prison's phone provider, OR the inmate must have a pre-paid calling card, or the inmate must have a debit calling account.
Each state institution has a contract with a phone provider. Usually all state institutions within a state have the same provider. You can call the institution to find out who the phone provider is for that particular institution. Or review our comprehensive list of State DOC information pages for detailed information on each state. To view information specific to individual state prisons, style="font-size: 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);".
All Federal Prisons, with the exception of private Federal Prisons, use Value Added Communications (VAC), owned by GlobalTel Link (GTL). Private federal prisons may use a different provider (ICSolutions).
Contact the phone provider for the institution. When you set up the pre-paid account, you have to use the new local phone number, not your home phone or cell phone. If you have more than one phone number where you want to accept calls, you may need to set up a pre-paid account for each phone number.
If you have a question that is not answered here, please contact us using the support message tool on our support page.