How Does InmateAid Reduce Prison Phone Call Costs?

You still pay for the calls. InmateAid does not replace the prison phone system or eliminate the charges. What it does is reduce what you pay by identifying the carrier's rate structure and finding a number that triggers the lowest available rate for your specific facility.

Here is how the savings work in practice. In the federal system, calls to a local number cost $0.06 per minute, while calls to a long-distance number cost $0.21 per minute. If your inmate uses 300 minutes calling a local number, the total cost is $18. The same 300 minutes on a long-distance number runs $45. InmateAid sells a local forwarding line for $5, which routes to your phone wherever you are. That one purchase saves $27 on 300 minutes, making it one of the clearest value propositions in the phone cost reduction space.

The same principle applies at state and county facilities, though the specific carrier and rate structure determine how much can be saved. InmateAid can save money on calls in roughly 75% of cases. In the remaining cases, the local rate is already the default and no additional savings are available.

The calls are cheaper, but they are not free.