Okay ladies, here is the deal. I just found out today by way of reading some other posts, that getting calls forwarded from your landline to your cell phone is illegal. I have a crazy weird work schedule, so I get ALL of my phonecalls forwarded. So I hear ladies talking about how they're talking to their sweeties on their cell phones so they don't miss a call. So I'm a little confused! I mean I have nothing to hide.......I'll pay MCI so they get their money, that's not the point. Can someone please enlighten me here?

Thanks a bunch!:D

I never heard it was illegal. PCO lets you forward calls no prob. I'm sure if it was illegal they wouldn't allow it. Where did you read this? Maybe it was another state? Who knows...

It is not actually "illegal" but it is a major policy violation and if you get caught at it, your fella could lose phone privileges and you could face some sanctions, too, like having your number blacklisted or even losing visiting privileges.
MCI could probably care less, really, as long as they get paid but the CDC cares plenty. They have a legitimate interest in knowing who an inmate is calling and forwarded calls make it difficult for them to be sure of such information. They consider it a security issue and have no sense of humour about it.

Since this is an issue of wide interest, I'm moving it to a broader forum.

okay, so call forwarding to your cell is a policy violation and 3-way calling too? So, what if someone does it but doesn't know it's wrong? No warning first? or they just punish you with out investigating first? Anyone know the actual procedures they follow for this?

Darn good question! I was wondering the same thing! Le Beau, this has your name all over it! :D

I think they figure the inmate knows (and he does) and that it is his responsibility to inform you of the regs... ignorance of the rules is not an excuse as far as the CDC is concerned... 'm trying to find one of our CO members to shed a bit more light.

I work County and I have not heard any policy against it. We have the ability to record ANY conversation. Doesn't make a difference if it goes to a cell phone or a land line. Aren't they BOTH in your name anyways? Everyone gets their money (phone companies, prison). Sounds like a big rumor to me. Hope that helps.

I agree with Prime Evil. Same here my home phone, MCI account and cell phone are in my name. I also have nothing to hide and I am never home during phone time.

Well, it is not a rumour... I just this minute got off the phone with a Lieutenant at HDSP and she advised me that, per departmental policy, forwarding a call even to your own cell phone is considered a "three way" or third party call and is prohibited for reasons of security.
Forwarding is not permitted.

You can setup a prepaid account for your cell phone, but be warned that they don't guarantee that the calls will actually go through. I had my account refunded because my fiance called me collect 10 times, and only one of the calls actually went through, so the service may work great for you or it may be crappy (you just have to try it and see if it works well for you).

I was always scared to forward my landline to my cell phone because of the message "custom calling features are not allowed during this call". I figured that the warning was vague enough that it could possibly including any feature including forwarding. Who knows... just another risk I'm not willing to take!

In general when dealing with the prisons, if you have to ask yourself if the risk you're taking is worth the possible repurcussions, it is not.... missing a couple of calls is NOT worth losing phone privileges altogether.

I have always wondered then how PCO can be ok. You know all they do is set up a land line in the area of the prison and then forward it to your phone of choice. How is that any different then you forwarding it yourself? I do not use PCO nor do I forward my home phone, but I have always wondered this... and now that someone else brought it up....

Technically, I'm not sure PCO is ok.... Because what they do is legal in the "free world", there is not much the CDCR can do about the fact that PCO, and similar services, are in operation, but I'm fairly certain that using the service is a violation of CDCR policy... it is making use of a "Custom calling feature" and that is expressly prohibited, even though PCOs website says otherwise....maybe I'll give a call to a couple of random prisons to get a consensus.

I am not trying to rain on anyones parade. I am all for doing what it takes to talk to your loved one. Once my best friend and her husband were in prison at the same time, they would both call my house (we had 2 seperate phone lines) and I would hold the phones together, mouth piece to ear piece so they could talk. I was just curious about the PCO thing because they do expressly say that it is legit, and I am curious if it is legit for them to do how come it is not ok for us to do.

Glad this got out! LeBeau and MikesSis, you both have good angles that you're coming from. Would definitely love to hear what some random prisons have to say on the matter! I'll be checking back.

Thanks!

Well, I spoke to three Public Information Officers and one Deputy Warden today... two of these people couldn't grasp the question, and two assured me that ANY forwarding of calls was a policy violation.
I'm off to visit this weekend, but when I get back, I'll try actually calling Sacramento to see if I can get a more definitive answer.

I have done it since day one, how would they know it is happening.? I mean the phone company might, but I asked and they don't care. so how would the prison know??

Called Sac this morning, and in order to make sure that people NOT concerned with HDSP see the info, I started a new thread to share the results of the call.http://prisontalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=212958