Telephone Calls in the Federal Prison Camp
Oct 9th, 2008 by Rickey
Telephone calls are one way, which means that only inmates can call out of the federal prison camp to family members and others. The numbers and persons an inmate calls all have to be approved by the BOP and there is a limited number that can be on the list.
Phone calls are also considered a privilege and there are times when those privileges are taken away as a form of disciplinary actions toward one inmate or the entire prison camp population.
Inmates are given 300 minutes each a month and 400 minutes during the holidays (November and December) to call with so inmates have to budget their calls to last all month. Each call that is made is timed and limited to 15 minutes for the basic reason that other inmates want to make calls also and there are only a few phones to use. When the 15 minutes are up there is a waiting period of 15 minutes to an hour before making the next call.
These phone calls are not free but at the inmate’s expense. Every inmate is given a pin number which is also linked to their commissary account where they can transfer funds from commissary to their phone account. In 2004 calls were around .32 cents a minute but they were constantly increasing. If an inmate did not have sufficient funds, the prison camp staff would allow phone calls to be made on a BOP office phone in their presents but this was for emergency reasons only and on rare occasions.
All phone calls are monitored and there are signs posted next to each phone explaining that very fact. There have been inmates who were handcuffed and taken out of the camp within minutes of saying the wrong thing, therefore be very discrete with the choice of words and instruct the person you are speaking to also be discrete.
My fiancee is in a FCI and he only has to wait 15 min between calls.
Gabriela, thanks for the update and I hope that applies to all institutions. I remember that in 2005 when I got out that they were talking about reducing the time to a half hour, 15 minutes is much better.
I have accidently blocked calls from my brother in a federal prison. How can I undo this?
Cheri, I would call the prison, explain the situation and ask to be reinstated as an approved calling number.
I accidently blocked my friend once, and he told me to send a copy of my phone bill and also a note explaining what had happened. You have to send it to his counselor, so he can approver your number again.
Good luck
Thank you Sandy.
i was talking to someone in the federal prison on the phone and all i heard was the violation then the phone hung up. can anyone tell me what that means, and does anyone know if i had said something inapporiate would the inmate gotten into trouble?
Kris,
Yes, something was said by one of the parties talking that was not appropriate, remember that all phone calls are monitored and certain things are not allowed. The inmate can get in trouble if the words are serious or they may just get a warning and have phone priviledges suspended for a while.
i finally got to talk to him the next day, he said it wasnt because of whatever i might have said. he said it had to do with a technical thing. i forgot what it was. though im thinking hes probaly lieing to me, so i dont feel bad, i was feeling really bad and i let him know that, and how i thought it might have been my fault. so could of it had been a technical thing?
Kris,
Yes, it probably was because the phones are monitored and controlled for many reasons. It might have been close to the time that phones are shut off for the evening or some other reason but yes technical things do happen.
Glad to here you got a call back, blessings to you both.
thanks for the quick response!
Do you know anything about the CONSCALLHOME COMPANY?
Sue,
Sorry, I have not heard of that company.
I have a question regarding phone calls. When an inmate makes a call from the camp, does any information related to the prison show up on the receiving persons caller ID? The reason why I ask is that I would like to be able to make calls to my wife’s place of work but she is concerned that her fellow employees may discover our situation.
Tony,
Good question. All phone calls from the prisons are announced to the one receiving the call. It’s up to the recipient to accept or decline the call.
Yes, caller ID would show the institutions number and possibly the name.
My suggestion is don’t call her at work but set up a time to talk with her each night about the same hour and surprise her with a few morning calls before she goes to work.
Also remember that phone calls are monitored.
my name is maryann and my boyfriend is currently locked up in the FCI in TX and i have also accidently blocked him from calling me. I called to the institution and i was told to go on this website to get an 800 number but haven’t found one so is there anyone that can help me by giving me the number please i would very grateful for your help.
Maryann,
There is no 800 number on this site to call, you may have the wrong site or the institution gave you wrong information.
Call the institution back and ask to talk with the counselor, he is the one who usually approves the numbers and reinstates them.
(this is a simple and common mistake)
When my brother calls anyone here in IL on the caller ID it always shows up as “0″. He is federal and has been in 4 different states and always the same
I also use the service ConsCallHome. We have a issue with feed back on the line. My brother says there are others in Leavenworth using the service and they do not have the feedback.
Becky,
Unsure why a “0″ is displayed on caller ID because each and every call is announced to the one receiving the call for approval.
Sorry, I have no experience or used ConsCallHome.
My husband is in a federal correctional institution and i was wondering if i can obtain his register phone numbers which he has approved to call?
Katy,
Probably not because the BOP is not in the habit of giving out an inmate’s information.
my kids father said he was going to kill me when he get out of federal prison ,but what i would like to know did they hear our conversation and can he get in trouble and who can i call to reort what happen
Nita,
Yes, the BOP did hear the conversation because all phone calls are monitored and yes, there are consequences to his actions.
Call and report your concerns to the federal prison.
Can my husband call me even if I am not in the US? In short can he make an international call? I live in another country.
Thanks!!!
Luela,
That’s a good question and honestly I don’t know.
I do know that all phone numbers must be summited for approval and inmates pay for the calls through their phone accounts. I would just try and see what happens, curious to know and would be beneficial to others in like situations.
Thank you so much for your quick response. I will wait what you will find out soon. But my other question is, if the person is covicted for five years for conspiracy . Is he going to be in a camp or somewhere else? And how much less time he can get for good behaviour?
Thank you!!
Luela,
Camp status depends on a number of things like specific crime, first time offense, white collar crime or non-violent crime, the judge has the final say in the matter.
Good time behavior brings about a 15% reduction in time where usually only 85% of the time is served.
Do u have to have collect calling on your phone to talk to inmates?
BritB,
No, inmates call to land lines and cell phones with no problems but prior to the call going through, a recording will alert you that it’s a call from a prison and it’s up to you if you want to accept it or not.
how do you go about getting the rediculously phone time uped from 300 mins to more 300 mins is not enough time in the mo
Michael,
300 is the limit but in November and December the limits is increased to 400 minutes because of the holidays.
.32 cents per minute? and possibly more than that now? wow that is expensive.
Kenny,
Yes, phone is expensive and must be paid in advance, similar to a calling card.