Phone time

michelle · #1 06-14-2002, 08:04 PM

I was talking to my fiance, Ron, last night on the phone and the guard banged on the cell door wanting the phone and he had five minutes left on the phone.:argh When he got off the phone he told this guard that the operator comes on and warns him that he has 30 seconds left to hang up now so we say our i love you's

and hang up. This guard wrote Ron a ticket because it took him to long to get off the phone and now he has to go infront of some kinda board because of this ticket. Is there anything I can do or should I just stay out of it? Michelle:fb:

BillnDenise · #2 06-17-2002, 04:18 PM

That really sucks. When I talk to Billy there is a click at the 1 minute left-mark, then another click at the 30 seconds mark. Finally the phone goes dead. The CO should have known how the phone system works in your case.

Maybe you should let your man handle the situation first. Let him explain the situation, then if it doesn't come about the right way, then you can complain to the prison.

That's my advice...hope things work out!!

Veronica · #3 06-17-2002, 09:28 PM

Let your man handle it.
He has to deal with their crap.

Cliff gets 15 minutes. Sometimes, he has to get off early, when I ask him why he says cuz he got on earlier than expected. It's not fair but at least you got to talk with him.

soraya · #4 06-18-2002, 02:56 AM

I had something similar with Darrell, he had to get off the phone after 6 min, while he had 30 min. I heard him getting mad at the guard and thought he'd get a ticket or whatever too,but the next day he called again and got his 30 min. I guess the guard got out of bed with a bad mood and had to make a 'victim' because of this. I would let Ron deal with this first and if things go wrong, you can get involved

aprilcat · #5 06-18-2002, 06:41 AM

ignorant reader here ~ what's with the "clicking"? when you receive a call from a prisoner, the length of the call is predetermined? if you hang up before the call is "over" are you still charged for the full however-many-minutes the call was supposed to be alotted?

DJohnson · #6 06-18-2002, 09:00 AM

Michelle...

I am sorry to hear the CO was such a jerk to Ron!! I would let him handle things first, but if something more comes out of his ticket then you should try to get involved.

Aprilcat...
I can't speak for every states collect call system, but in IL the prisons have the phones inside set up for however many minutes they designate for the time limits. Like where EJ is at he can have a 30 min. phone call. The times that he has had to get off because they let the guys out too early or they decided to lock up earlier than normal (buttheads) he had to get off really quick. I have had a 6 min. phone call once or even like a 10 min phone call. The phone calls then are counted & priced according to how many minutes you were on, which here being on the whole time is actually cheaper than getting cut off. Oh also I get a LOUD operator message telling us we have 1 min., then 15 seconds to go before we are cut off!! It sucks because the times EJ had to leave early we really needed to talk & get things straightened out.

aprilcat · #7 06-18-2002, 09:42 AM

thanks, DJ! that really cleared things up for me. i was confused, but i see now that people are only allowed so many call minutes per month. thanks, honey!

Goody's Girl · #8 06-18-2002, 10:30 AM

Aprilcat - I don't know about other states, but here in FL, I don't think there is a certain number of call minutes per month. I know that Goody can call anytime after 4 pm until 10 pm suring the week and longer hours during the weekend. Although, I do know that some of the prisons here make the prisoners use a sign-up sheet to use the phone, not all do.

DJohnson · #9 06-18-2002, 10:57 AM

Aprilcat...

I think I might have worded something wrong in my post to your question. EJ doesn't have a minute limit per month, he can call anytime between 12:30pm-2:30 on certain days & on others 7pm-8pm as much as he would like in those time frames. When they let them out to make calls, take showers, etc.. There is a limit on how long the guys can talk like EJ can only talk for a 1/2 hour, if we want to continue our talk, he will have to call back for another charge.

Sorry if I confused you girl!!

BillnDenise · #10 06-18-2002, 12:47 PM

Aprilcat,

Billy's phone minutes are timed and it will give you a 1 minute warning by clicking, then a 30 second warning too. The calls only last 15 minutes. He has 300 phone minutes a month and if he hangs up early it costs the same. He calls his mom collect which is $2.00 for 15 minutes and he calls me straight for 60cents. He never calls me collect because he calls directly to my cell phone.

They turn the phone on from 6am to 11 pm. During that time the only reason they turn them off is for count or they get in lockdown over something. Billy usually calls after lunch or dinner.

That's the way it is here...just for your info!!!

DJohnson · #11 06-18-2002, 01:02 PM

Denise...

How does Billy call your cell phone directly? Does he get a phone card?
I wish that EJ didn't have to call collect, my phone bill would be a lot less expensive!! Actually it would be nice if he could call my cell phone directly part of the time & then home, but the cell phone doesn't accept collect calls. I could split the phone calls up & not have so much of a big bill on 1...oh well!!

BillnDenise · #12 06-18-2002, 02:19 PM

Well, I haven't figured it out yet. In the beginning he said that he couldn't call on my cell phone. A few months ago, he said that he could.

He just tells me that he puts money on the books for the phone. I think that he has a pin number that goes to his account.

Billy called one day. He said that he only had 8 minutes left out of the 300. So the phone started clicking after 7 minutes. So the phone calls are definitely timed.

Since I have free minutes on my phone and Billy is local, it doesn't cost me anything unless I go over the free minutes. Usually I do for a few dollars. So I'm fortunate.

DJohnson · #13 06-18-2002, 02:31 PM

That's good that Billy is able to put some money on his books to help w/the phone calls.
I wish that EJ could do something like that here. Unfortunately any call that the guys make in IL has to be collect. He has sent me money to help w/the phone calls from his account. That's a help, but it takes forever for the checks to get to me.
The only time I can get a call from EJ on my cell phone is when I forward my calls to it.

BillnDenise · #14 06-18-2002, 02:35 PM

Billy can't send me any money off the books. All the jails that he was sent to before he was sentenced, he had to call collect and they were expensive.

When Billy was moved to the federal prison where he's at now, he could start paying for the calls. Thank Goodness!! It was a relief on me and my checkbook.

michelle · #15 06-23-2002, 07:03 AM

Hey there, thanks for all the advice. I talked to Ron and they apparently forgot to give him the ticket. They have 3 days to give it to him and they never did. What a sigh of relief on both our parts. I guess if you do pray hard enough miracles do happen

! Sorry I hadn't replied sooner been ill. Anyway, thanks so much for everyone's input. Michelle