Inmate Telephone

Inmates are provided with coinless telephones during set hours of use. Inmates can only make collect calls to pre-approved numbers. Inmates cannot have cellular phones or calling cards. Inmates can lose their telephone privileges for disciplinary reasons. Each unit has its own telephone policy, so please check with the particular unit for specific hours of use.
Boot Camp inmates may write and receive letters only. They have access to telephones only in emergency situations or to notify family or friends prior to graduation from the Boot Camp.

44 cents per minute: Arkansas keeps prison calls among highest in the nation


The Arkansas Board of Corrections voted unanimously and without discussion on Nov. 21 to maintain the current fee of 44 cents per minute that families and others must pay to receive collect phone calls from inmates. After the meeting, a group representing inmates’ families complained that the board had not acknowledged or discussed their pleas for a cheaper alternative. A company whose bid had been rejected also protested the manner by which the board had reached its decision, prompting other state officials to place a temporary block on the board’s action.
$4 million for prisons
At issue is how much money the state of Arkansas will take from the fees that families, friends and attorneys pay to receive phone calls from inmates. Calls to inmates are not allowed. Inmates may only place collect calls, for a maximum of 15 minutes per call, to persons on an approved list. The cost for one 15-minute call is $6.60, or 44 cents per minute. Under the state’s current contract, which is with MCI, the phone company makes 22.5 cents per minute, and the remaining 22.4 cents goes to the state. Rates are established by contract between the phone company and the state and are not regulated. Last year, Arkansas’s inmate phone system generated roughly $2 million for prison operations.
Group calls fee unfair ‘tax’
According to the Rick Hart, chairman of board, and Dina Tyler, spokesperson for the Arkansas Department of Correction, two documents relating to the phone contract were provided to board members at the November meeting. One was a letter from Effie Bowers, founder of Arkansas CURE (Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants), who asked that the board consider allowing inmates to use debit cards. She noted that 13 states and the federal prison system now allow use of debit cards, which Bowers said eases the strain on families. Bowers argued in her letter that it was “not fair to ‘tax’ only the families and friends of prisoners” to raise extra money for prison operations. Only Kansas, New Jersey and Arizona currently have higher rates than Arkansas.
No record of discussion
The other document provided to members at the meeting was a one-page “memo” from a committee that had been formed to evaluate bids for the telephone system. In that memo, the committee recommended that the board approve a new contract with Global Tel-Link. Freedom of Information requests to both the chairman of the board and the prison department produced no records of any meetings of the full board where the new phone contract was discussed. According to the documents provided, the board voted on the new contract without ever having discussed either the issues raised by CURE, other companies’ bids or its committee’s one-sentence recommendation.
With its vote, the board agreed to switch the prison system’s inmate phone contract from MCI, which pays the state a rebate of 51 percent per call, to Global-Tel Link Corp., which offered to increase the state’s take on calls to 55 percent. Prison officials said after the meeting that the rate of 44 cents per minute that recipients pay for inmate calls will not change under the new contract, but that the income to the state would increase from 22 to 24 cents per minute.
LA company protests
Bowers and other inmate advocates expressed disappointment to reporters after the meeting. And the next day, one of the bidding companies, Public Communications Services Corp., of Los Angeles, filed a protest with Arkansas officials, challenging the board’s selection process. The California company pointed out that MCI had merged with Verizon last year and that, a week prior to the board’s vote, Global Tel-Link had announced it was purchasing Verizon’s corrections phone division. Tyler said the committee that recommended the new contract to the board was not aware of Global Tel-Link’s plan to purchase Verizon/MCI. In response to the company’s protest, officials at Arkansas’s Office of State Procurement placed a temporary block on the new contract. Representatives of CURE welcomed the delay, saying they hoped that the burden the inmate phone places on families would also “get the attention it deserves.”

I don't know about anyone elses' bills but my phone bill was a little over $15 per call, for 15min. and that was whether we talked the 15min. or not. I live in Tn. and my life Partner is in Arkansas system. Hope something good comes out of the meetings, it's been 4 yrs. of phone bills and more for others. Thank you in advance

I agree Molly. Each call has been about 19.00 each for me. I live in Texas and my partner is in Ar. also. You have been paying these high bills just about as long as I have. Just think, someday Kids will ask their parents "Did you live back in the days when there was long distance phone call charges." That is if they even have phones...haha I sure hope the change will cause my bills to go down.

oh my ! i cant take collect calls. i thought you got 300 minutes for something like 60 or 70 $$ is that not in Arkansas??? please email me, as i might not find this thread. i am new to this... waiting 19 months already for hubby to get transferred from a CCA camp in Kansas into forrest city.

My son is @ diagnostics, can I send a money order to him for phone calls, and will it follow him where ever he goes?

No, you can't send a money order. First, your son has to have your number pre-approved and put on his call list. He can call collect and it will be billed to your phone. GTL is the company that handles the prison phone calls for ADC. You can also set up a pre-pay account with GTL but then you will no longer get to use the "collect" call feature. The GTL pre-pay # is 800-483-8314.

Others may have more to add about the phone issue but I hope this helps some.

My husband is in Forrest City, AR he gets 300 minutes a month that renews the 13th of each month, The calls are prepaid from money they put on their phone account. They can only call numbers that on their approved list. My cell phone is on that list, so I never miss a call. It costs them around 27 cents a minute. It's cheaper if you have a cell phone with a local arkansas number.

Calls from ADC to instate numbers are around .40 minute. Forrest City is a Federal facility not state so I assume there would be considerable differences. I am not sure if you would have a local number but there are only about 150 people in the town where my wife is housed so somehow I do not think that would work for me. Pretty much stuck with GTL. I think my mother-in-law has to pay over a dollar a minute for her calls as she is out of state.
Sounds like the Feds have something right anyway!:)

I know I am paying 44 cents a minute for calls from Malvern. Highway robbery, I tell ya!