I will be leaving for college in august and while doing some reading about the college I am going to attend, I found out that you cannot accept collect calls on a dorm phone line. Does anyone know if they (prisoners) are allowed to have calling cards? i'm really upset about this because I'm not going to know anyone there and his phone calls are important to me. I emailed the college to see if anything can be done, but they will probably just look down on me for having a guy thats in prison.:( Any info or suggestions would be much, much appreciated!!! If it helps, he is at Marcy. Thanks!!! ~Gina

Maybe they'd let you put in your own phone in your dorm room. I don't see why you couldn't do that. I can understand why you can't take them on the dorm line.

you have to provide your own phone, but you have to use their line. i just called evercom and they do have a prepaid calling plan. hopefully i'll be able to get the calls that way. or i'll just have to get a cell phone or something. ~Gina

I think the cell phone idea is better this way you won't have to worry about people being in your business.

tru dat....

I think getting a private line in the room is a good alternative. Probably even better b/c there's more privacy (outside of a roommate ... unless you are fortunate enough to score a room to yourself). On another note ... I was wondering about the info regarding collect calls to cell phones. I have AT&T cell service and when I first moved to MD I looked into going that route but I was told collect calls are not permitted to cell phones. I assumed they meant all cells, not just those on AT&T. Does anybody know of a carrier that does? Just wondering ...

Cell phones do not allow collect calls unless it is forwarded to the cell from another source. NYS DOCS does not allow inmates to have or use calling cards. I hope that helps.

thanks for the info ... both public and via pm! :)

You are very welcome any time!

:)

i called evercom and they do have a prepaid plan. They weren't open when I called, I got a recording. Does anyone know how that plan works??? thanks again for all the info. ~Gina

I am not familiar with evercom. Please share whatever information that you get from them. I will look forward to learning more.

when my ex was in the monroe county jail, the calls were through evercom. They have a toll free number you can call, 1-800-844-6591. I don't know what facilities they service, but it didn't say anything about any facilities they do not service. I got an email back from someone at the college. They told me the only way to get a private line is to get a private (single) room. Since these fill up quickly, I most likely will not get one. Hopefully the prepaid plan will work with the phone lines there. I was unable to speak to anyone at evercom today, I was on hold for a long time and had to hang up.

Okay.... I finally got to speak with someone at evercom. They do not service his facility (Marcy) and told me to contact MCI, which I did. MCI does have a prepaid plan, but the collect call block has to be removed from the line in order for the calls to go through. I politely emailed the school, once again and explained to them that I have done everything I can, and called everywhere I can. There are only two solutions to this problem. If i get a single room and have a private line installed, I can get his calls. I am a first year student, and single rooms fill up FAST, so they either have to find me an available single room, or they have to take the damn block off the line. I think it is really redicules that I have to go through all this crap just to get a phone call once in a while!!!!Would it kill them to take the block off the phone? It's not like they have to pay the bill. It is a prepaid calling plan. I am tired of being judged and looked down on because Jasin is in prison. I am not going to know anyone there and it is going to be very lonely for me. I am going to be very friggen upset if I can't get his calls. Thanks for listening to me B!tch, everyone. You guys are great!!!! Love, Gina

Gina,
I hope that the school assists you with making phone calls happen. I try hard to be optimistic, but this one doesn't leave me with a good feeling. Can you live off campus? Can you look into getting a private line somewhere that is permanently forwarded to your dorm room?
Good luck!

I just checked and you can't get third party calls either. I was going to have him call my moms and have her forward the calls, but...I should not have to do all this to get a call from him once a week. I will be very persistant. I have emailed at&t, they service the school. So basicly they have 2 choices and i have one last resort ( at least i hope i have one last resort!!!, the cell phone). They make other exceptions for other students and I don't understand why they seem so reluctant to help me. obviously they don't like fact that jasin is in prison and i don't want to sacrifice our phone calls. I should not have to! there is really no reason they cannot take that block off the phone if I get a prepaid calling plan. I have done everything i can to make things easier for them. I made all the phone calls, i stayed on hold for an hour, i found a way for him to call without charging it to the school. I am paying good money to attend school there and frankly i am finding these people to be very judgemental, (dare i say discriminating?) i deserve to have contact with my friends just as much as anyone else at that school. i cannot help where he is. i did not know him then. it's not my fault he can't have a calling card. i will do whatever it takes to get this taken care of, they are not going to stop me from talking to him. thanks again for listening to b1tch, i am just so mad today. ~Gina

UPDATE: I got an email back from the woman in the telecommunications office at the school. She said that she will discuss this with the general manager and get back to me. Hopefully this little problem works itself out.

The woman that I spoke to at the college discussed my situation with her general manager, and what a surprise...they can't remove the block for one person. I am so fed up!!!! Now the only way to get calls from Jasin is to waste money on a cell phone that I'm not going to use for anything else, and have my mom pay for call forwarding and the collect calls. This is expensive and redicules, just for one phone call a week. I highly doubt that i will get my own room, and I cannot afford to live off campus. I don't even know how I'm going to pay for a cell phone. I thought they could be a little more understanding considering that I have done everything I possibly can. thanks to everyone for all your help. does anyone know any good cell phone companies? me, my mom, and jasin are all in different area codes. thanks! Gina