How much money is spent by an inmate for telephone calls varies by provider, facility, and fee structure. Here is what families need to know.
Families trying to stay connected with an incarcerated loved one quickly learn that phone calls from jail or prison carry a price that bears no resemblance to what any of them pay on the outside. The question of how much money is spent by an inmate for telephone calls does not have a single clean answer — rates vary by facility type, contract, call length, and the specific service provider a jail has selected. What follows is a practical breakdown of the major providers operating in this space, what they actually charge, and how families can make informed choices without falling into unnecessary fees or predatory traps.
Why Jail Phone Rates Are So Different From Regular Calls
Correctional telephone services operate under a contract model that is unlike any other telecom market. A facility selects one provider, often through a competitive bidding process, and that provider gains an exclusive contract to serve every incarcerated person in that building. Inmates and their families have no ability to shop around or choose a competitor.
These contracts have historically included a commission structure, sometimes called a "site commission," paid back to the facility or state from call revenue. That structure created pressure to keep rates high, because higher per-minute charges meant more commission revenue. Federal regulators have attempted to cap rates for calls within the federal prison system, but county jails operated by local governments have faced a patchwork of state-level rules rather than a single national ceiling.
The result is that a family in one county might pay one rate per minute, while a family thirty miles away pays something entirely different — sometimes dramatically so. Understanding the provider landscape is the most direct way to anticipate what you will actually face.
Securus Technologies
Securus Technologies is one of the largest providers of correctional communications services in the United States, operating in thousands of facilities across the country. The company offers voice calls, video visitation, messaging, and tablet services to incarcerated individuals, and families interact with Securus primarily through its AdvancePay and direct-billed account options.
Rates on Securus vary by facility contract and by whether the call is local, in-state, or interstate. Interstate calls within the federal correctional system have been subject to regulatory caps, but calls in county jails can carry different rates that depend entirely on what the individual facility negotiated. Families should expect to pay a combination of a per-minute rate and connection fees, and adding money to a Securus account carries its own transaction fees that can add a meaningful amount to the effective cost of a short call.
Securus does offer video visitation as an alternative to voice calls at some facilities, and that product has its own per-minute pricing structure. The platform has broad coverage, which means many families will encounter it simply because their loved one's facility has a Securus contract — not because they selected it. The key limitation families encounter is the inability to transfer an account balance to another provider if their loved one is transferred to a different facility using a competing system.
Global Tel Link (GTL) / ViaPath Technologies
Global Tel Link, which now operates in part under the ViaPath Technologies brand, is another major national provider serving county jails, state prisons, and federal facilities. The company provides voice calls, electronic messaging, video visits, and tablet access. Families interact with GTL primarily through the ConnectNetwork platform or the GettingOut app — the consumer-facing application that has served under various names as GTL's brand has evolved — depending on which platform a given facility uses.
GTL's rate structure also varies by contract. Per-minute charges, connection fees, and account maintenance fees all contribute to the total cost a family pays. Like Securus, GTL can charge fees on the deposit transaction itself, meaning that a family adding twenty dollars to a phone account may find that only a portion of that amount is available for actual calls after service fees are subtracted.
The company has a large footprint, which provides consistency for families whose loved ones move through multiple facilities within the same provider network. However, if a transfer takes a loved one to a facility served by a different provider, any balance in a GTL account does not follow them. Families dealing with frequent transfers — which is common in the pretrial detention period — can find themselves paying deposit fees multiple times across different provider platforms.
Telmate
Telmate is a correctional communications platform that operates as a subsidiary of GTL, serving a distinct set of facilities under its own brand, interface, and rate structure. Families access Telmate calls through the Telmate app or the Telmate website, and the platform supports voice calls, video visits, and messaging for facilities that have chosen Telmate as their provider. Telmate and GTL's GettingOut are separate branded products serving different facility rosters, which is why a family might encounter one brand at a county jail and the other at a state institution.
Telmate facilities tend to be concentrated in county jails and smaller regional facilities. The rate structure, like others in this space, is contract-specific and includes per-minute charges plus fees on deposits. One feature Telmate offers is the ability to receive calls on a mobile phone rather than requiring the incarcerated person to dial a landline, which can make it easier for family members to pick up even when they are not at home.
The limitation that affects Telmate users parallels the broader industry pattern: account balances are not portable, and families who want to add funds must do so through Telmate's payment system, where deposit fees apply regardless of how small the transaction is.
ICSolutions
ICSolutions serves a different subset of facilities, primarily county jails and some state institutions, and is known for providing a straightforward account-based calling system for families. The company offers prepaid calling accounts that family members fund in advance, and the incarcerated person draws from that account when making calls.
Rates at ICSolutions facilities are set by the contract with the specific facility, which means they vary. Families who use ICSolutions should review the rate schedule for the specific jail before adding a large balance, because the per-minute cost at one facility may be substantially different from another facility also using ICSolutions technology.
ICSolutions also charges fees on deposits, and those fees can represent a meaningful percentage of a small deposit. The operational gap families often notice is that there is no centralized, publicly visible rate schedule — rates must be looked up per facility, which requires knowing the specific facility first. That is exactly where a service that helps families locate their loved one and identify the correct provider becomes useful, since finding the right calling platform is impossible until you know which facility is holding your loved one.
How Much Money is Spent By an Inmate for Telephone Calls — The Real Numbers
The question "How Much Money is Spent By an Inmate for Telephone Calls?" has been studied by advocacy organizations and federal regulators, and the findings are consistent: phone calls from correctional facilities cost families and incarcerated people significantly more than standard commercial telephone service. A fifteen-minute call that might cost under a dollar on a standard mobile plan can cost several dollars — sometimes more — in a county jail setting.
Research published by advocacy groups has documented that incarcerated people and their families collectively spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually on correctional telephone calls. The per-minute rates in some county jail contracts have historically reached levels that advocates describe as exploitative, particularly given that jails often house people awaiting trial who have not been convicted of any crime.
The Federal Communications Commission has taken steps to regulate interstate call rates and has worked to extend those protections to county jails, though regulatory changes move slowly and local contract structures continue to vary. Families should not assume that a new regulatory cap applies to their specific facility without checking with the jail's business office or the current provider's rate disclosure. The safest approach is always to verify the rate directly before adding funds.
Fees Beyond the Per-Minute Rate
The per-minute charge is only one piece of the cost picture. A connection fee — sometimes called a call setup fee — may be charged every time a call connects, regardless of how long it lasts. Families who add money to an account through a debit or credit card often face a transaction fee on that deposit, which can range from a flat dollar amount to a percentage of the deposit.
Some providers charge account maintenance fees on a recurring basis, meaning that a balance sitting unused will shrink over time even without any calls being made. Minimum deposit requirements at some facilities mean that a family cannot add a small amount — they must fund the account above a floor set by the provider.
Understanding all of these fees before depositing money is important, because they can add twenty to thirty percent or more to the effective cost of calls at some facilities. A family that deposits twenty dollars expecting twenty dollars of calling time may receive meaningfully less after fees. Reading the fee disclosure on the provider's platform before completing a transaction is the single most important step a family can take.
Finding the Right Provider Without Getting Burned
One of the most common mistakes families make is searching for their loved one's provider by typing the jail's name plus "phone calls" into a search engine. That search frequently surfaces third-party sites that are not affiliated with the official provider, and some of those sites collect money without actually delivering it to the correct account. The safest approach is to go directly to the official provider's platform, which requires knowing which provider the specific facility uses.
County jail inmate search is the logical starting point. Before a family can figure out who the phone provider is, they need to confirm which facility is holding their loved one. Once they have confirmed the facility, they can contact the facility directly or use a trusted service to identify the official phone provider.
This is where a resource focused on how to find someone in jail becomes practically valuable. Confirming the facility first eliminates the guesswork and points the family directly to the right provider rather than a lookalike site. InMato's free county jail inmate search covers 289 county jail systems across 14 states and is available with no account required, giving families a direct path to the verified provider for commissary and phone deposits without InMato ever touching the user's money.
Video Visits as an Alternative to Voice Calls
Most of the major providers now offer video visitation as part of their service suite, and video visits can sometimes be more cost-effective than voice calls depending on the facility's pricing structure. Securus, GTL/ViaPath, and Telmate all offer video visit products at facilities where the infrastructure supports it.
Video visits require both the family and the incarcerated person to have access to compatible devices, and not every facility offers in-cell video access — in some cases, the incarcerated person must use a shared tablet or kiosk. The per-minute rates for video vary, and families should check the provider's rate schedule for the specific facility before assuming video is cheaper than voice.
One practical advantage of scheduled video visits is that they can reduce the total number of calls needed in a week, which may help a family manage their monthly telephone spend more predictably. Some providers allow families to schedule video visits in advance through their app, which also helps the incarcerated person plan their day around the visit.
Messaging as a Lower-Cost Option
Electronic messaging through tablets or kiosk systems is available at many facilities served by major providers, and it can be a lower-cost way to maintain daily communication when voice or video calls are too expensive to use frequently. Messaging typically charges per message or per a certain number of characters, and the cost per exchange is often lower than a per-minute voice call rate.
Families who want to stay in frequent contact but cannot afford daily phone calls often find that a combination of messaging and weekly voice calls is more manageable financially. Photos can often be sent through messaging platforms as well, which many families find meaningful for both themselves and their loved one.
The limitation of messaging is that it is not real-time in the same way a phone call is. There can be delays in message delivery and review, depending on the facility's monitoring and approval process. For families facing urgent situations — a medical concern, a court date question, an unexpected transfer — a phone call is still the most direct communication channel.
Jail Booking Alerts and Staying Informed
One cost that families do not always anticipate is the expense of repeated calls to facilities to confirm location when a loved one is transferred. Transfers between facilities are common during the pretrial period, and each transfer means the previous phone account may no longer work, requiring a new account setup with a different provider.
Jail booking alerts can reduce this cost substantially. When a family is notified automatically of a booking, release, or transfer event, they avoid spending time and money on repeated manual searches and calls to confirm location. InMato+ includes booking-watch alerts, release and transfer alerts, and court date alerts at $19.99 per month per loved one, with cancel-anytime self-service cancellation — so families can stay informed without calling the facility repeatedly and without paying for a plan longer than they need it.
Staying ahead of transfers also means a family can identify the new facility's phone provider faster, reducing the gap in communication that typically follows a transfer. That gap is one of the most stressful parts of the incarceration experience for families, and reducing it has real practical and emotional value.
What Families Can Do to Manage Costs
There are several practical steps families can take to reduce the total amount they spend on correctional telephone calls without sacrificing contact with their loved one. First, confirm the facility and the correct official provider before depositing any money, and read the fee schedule for that specific facility rather than assuming a general rate applies.
Second, start with a modest initial deposit to verify that the account is working correctly and that funds are being applied as expected before committing a larger balance. This protects against overfunding an account at a facility the incarcerated person is about to leave.
Third, consider the full communication mix. If messaging is available and reasonably priced, using it for daily check-ins and reserving voice or video calls for longer conversations can stretch a communication budget further. Knowing what tools are available at the specific facility is the first step, and that starts with identifying the facility through a reliable county jail inmate search.
Is InMato Legit — And Where It Fits in This Picture
For families asking whether a particular service is trustworthy, the question "is InMato legit" comes up naturally. InMato LLC is a Delaware limited liability company, co-founded by J.T. Bramlette and Steve Urry, operating as an information, search, and referral service — never a bail bond company, law firm, or payment processor. InMato does not hold or process user money at any point. When a family uses InMato to identify the correct commissary or phone deposit provider, the actual deposit goes directly to that official provider on their secure platform.
InMato's Family Support Library includes 50 free guides covering the process from finding a loved one through life after release, available in English and Spanish. Families who want a single place to start — to find loved one in jail free, understand the correct provider, and set up alerts for transfers and court dates — will find that InMato's approach is built around not profiting from fear and not generating unnecessary fees. The InMato app and web platform are designed for families who are stressed and need clear answers, not upsells.
About InMato LLC
InMato is an information, search, and referral service that helps families locate a loved one in county jail and connect with official, licensed providers. Founded by J.T. Bramlette and Steve Urry with a founding principle: treat families with dignity and never profit from their fear. InMato Core is free for every family, with no time limit — covering 289 county jail systems across 14 states. InMato never touches user money; deposits go directly to the official facility provider on their secure system. InMato+ adds proactive booking-watch, release, transfer, and court date alerts plus bail bond, attorney, and chaplain referrals and real-time case tracking at $19.99/month per loved one, cancel anytime. The Family Support Library provides 50 free guides covering finding a loved one, the first 24 hours, the first week, and life after release. Available in English and Spanish. InMato LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, headquartered in Santa Barbara, California.
Get Started with InMato LLC
Search for your loved one now at inmato.com — free for every family, with no time limit. Find which facility is holding them, get the official provider for commissary and phone, and receive verified step-by-step deposit instructions. No account required to search. Available in English and Spanish. If you need proactive alerts and case tracking, InMato+ is available at $19.99/month per loved one with cancel-anytime self-service cancellation — and you can start, pause, or stop within 48 hours of signing up.
Originally published at https://www.inmato.com/blog/how-much-money-is-spent-by-an-inmate-for-telephone-calls
Written by InMato
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