| Summary: Calls from a Washington facility to anywhere in the state of Washington are a flat rate of $3.50 or $3.15 per call. A local phone number will not save you any money. Calls from a Washington facility to an out-of-state number cost $3.50 connection fee plus .50 per minute, ($13.50 for a 20-minute call). A phone number anywhere in Washington will save you a lot of money on collect calls. Click Here to get a free quote. From the Washington DOC website:All calls that originate from the regular offender telephones must be made collect or the calling party must have set up a pre-paid option. Collect Calls are billed to your phone using your carrier’s standard pricing per phone call. NOTICE: As of July 10, 2011 Out of State phone call rates have been reduced. Each out–of–state call will incur a $3.50 connection fee. Each minute will cost $.50 a minute plus applicable taxes. Calls will be limited to 20 minutes. Pre-Paid Calls are calls where time has been purchased in advance using V-Connect Services. Emergency Contact NeedsAll family emergencies must go through the facility emergency messages process at your offender's location. If you have a death in the family or other emergent need to contact your offender, then call the Corrections Counselor. After regular hours, contact the shift officer. Rules and How To InformationWe know that telephone calls are important to maintaining family contacts. These tips will help your phone call stay connected and ensure continued phone contact. Calling RulesThere is a 20-minute telephone call time limit. Both parties will hear a message at three intervals that tells them how much time remains (2 minutes, 1 minute, 30 seconds). After 20 minutes, the telephone call will automatically disconnect. Cautions List- Don’t attempt a 3-way call
- Don’t try to transfer the call
- Don’t put the inmate on hold
- Don’t use or answer “call waiting”
- Don’t use a cordless phone
- Don’t press numbers on the touch tone pad during the call
- Don’t stop the conversation for any length of time, even short pauses may result in a disconnect
- VAC encourages households that accept calls from incarcerated offenders to have at least one land line in your residence.
When You Receive a CallFirst you hear a pre-recorded message stating the Correction's Facility name and the name of the offender. At that point you can: - Accept the collect call
- Deny the collect call
- Set up a prepaid account
If you will be setting up a pre-paid account, the call will be delayed and the inmate will be asked to wait at least 30 minutes before trying to call the number again in order to provide you time to establish an account. International Telephone CallsIndividual facilities may allow offenders to place international calls. The offender may ask if this is allowed at his or her particular facility and what procedures need to be followed. |