Can pretrial inmates receive phone calls? Learn which services, rules, and tools help families stay connected before sentencing.
Families searching for a loved one who has been arrested often ask the same urgent question: are inmates that are being held before sentencing allowed to receive phone calls? The short answer is yes — but the rules, costs, and systems governing those calls vary by facility, and understanding them can mean the difference between connection and weeks of silence.
What Pretrial Detention Actually Means
When someone is arrested and has not yet been convicted or sentenced, they are held in what is legally called pretrial detention. This status can last anywhere from a few days to several months, depending on whether bail is granted, how the courts are scheduling hearings, and the nature of the charges.
Pretrial detainees have not been found guilty of anything. Legally, they retain more rights than sentenced inmates in some respects, including the right to communicate with family and legal counsel. That said, facilities still impose rules and procedures on all communication, including phone access.
The conditions in pretrial detention vary widely between county jails, federal detention centers, and state holding facilities. A large urban jail operates differently from a small rural county facility, which means the phone rules your family encounters will depend heavily on the specific place your loved one is being held.
Phone Access Rights for Pretrial Detainees
In the United States, pretrial inmates generally have a constitutionally recognized interest in communicating with family and attorneys. Courts have consistently held that facilities cannot completely cut off outside communication without legal justification.
However, this does not mean unlimited access. Facilities can and do restrict calls to specific hours, limit the number of calls per day, require outgoing-only systems, and prohibit certain numbers based on security reviews. These restrictions are considered administrative, not punitive.
The most important distinction families need to understand is the difference between attorney calls and personal calls. Calls to legal counsel are typically protected more strongly, and many facilities provide confidential attorney phone lines. Personal calls to family go through the general phone system, which is monitored and recorded in most cases.
Recorded calls are standard practice in nearly every county jail in the country. Calls are monitored not just by the facility but sometimes shared with prosecutors as part of ongoing investigations. Knowing this matters practically — it shapes what can safely be discussed over the phone and when a letter or in-person visit might be more appropriate for sensitive conversations.
How the Jail Phone System Works
The jail phone system in the United States is dominated by a small number of private telecommunications contractors. These companies operate under contracts with individual facilities, and families call their service to fund the account that allows their loved one to make outgoing calls.
These are not standard phone calls. The incarcerated person typically initiates the call from a facility phone, and the cost is charged either to a prepaid account or billed directly to the receiving number. The rates have historically been very high compared to regular phone service, though federal regulation through the Federal Communications Commission has brought some caps into effect.
Families need to identify the correct contracted provider for the specific facility where their loved one is held. Using the wrong platform, or accidentally paying a third-party lookalike site, means the money does not reach the correct account and the calls cannot happen. This is one of the most common and costly mistakes families make.
Setting up an account with the official provider usually takes less than thirty minutes. Most providers allow families to create an account online, add funds, and have the account active within a few hours. Once the account is funded, the incarcerated person can begin placing calls during permitted hours.
The Major Jail Phone Providers in the United States
Understanding which companies operate in this space helps families navigate efficiently. The providers listed here are the most commonly encountered across county jail systems nationwide. Each has different coverage, fee structures, and user experiences worth knowing.
Securus Technologies
Securus Technologies is one of the largest inmate phone service providers in the United States, holding contracts with thousands of county jails, state prisons, and federal facilities. Their platform allows families to create a AdvancePay account, where funds are deposited and drawn down as calls are received.
Securus offers video visitation in addition to voice calls at many facilities, which has become increasingly important since the COVID-19 pandemic reduced or eliminated in-person visits at many jails. Their app is available on both iOS and Android and supports messaging in some facilities.
One real limitation families encounter with Securus is the fee structure. Connection fees, account maintenance charges, and processing fees can add significant cost on top of the per-minute rate. Families managing tight budgets often find these ancillary charges confusing and frustrating. A service that clearly identifies official providers and never skims from your deposit helps address exactly this kind of friction.
GTL (Global Tel Link)
GTL, now operating under the brand name Telmate, is another major player in correctional telecommunications. GTL contracts span federal, state, and local facilities and their platform supports voice calls, video visits, and messaging. They are particularly prevalent in mid-sized county jails in the South and Midwest.
GTL has invested in a consumer-facing app that makes account management somewhat easier than older web-only platforms. Families can set up notifications when their loved one attempts to call, which helps avoid missed connections during irregular call windows.
The platform's limitation is geographic inconsistency. GTL's interface and features differ noticeably between facilities because individual jails customize what is and is not available. A family who successfully used GTL for one facility may find the experience completely different at another. Families navigating the county jail inmate search process for the first time benefit from a single resource that identifies the correct provider regardless of which system their loved one is in.
ICSolutions
ICSolutions focuses primarily on county jails and smaller detention facilities, making it less visible nationally but highly relevant for families searching for a loved one in a mid-size or rural county. Their model emphasizes simplicity and lower minimum deposit thresholds, which is practical when families are uncertain how long their loved one will be at a given facility.
ICSolutions supports both prepaid and collect call billing, giving families flexibility in how they fund communication. Their customer service is frequently cited as more accessible than larger competitors, which matters when an account issue prevents a call.
The limitation is coverage. ICSolutions does not hold contracts at the largest urban facilities, so families in major metro areas will rarely encounter them. When a loved one is transferred between facilities — which happens frequently in pretrial cases — the phone provider may change entirely. Finding out who to find loved one in jail with and which provider covers the new facility can take hours without a reliable, centralized search tool.
Paytel
Paytel operates in a focused segment of the market, concentrating on city jails and county facilities that have historically been underserved by the larger national providers. Their rates at some facilities are lower than the national average, which families on limited budgets appreciate.
Paytel's platform is simpler than Securus or GTL, with fewer add-on features but also fewer add-on fees. For families who only need voice call access and do not require video visitation, Paytel's stripped-down interface is sometimes easier to navigate.
The gap Paytel leaves is in information. Their facility coverage list is not always current, and their customer-facing resources for new families — first-time users who have never set up a jail phone account — are thin. Families dealing with their first arrest in the family need more than a deposit interface; they need guidance on the whole process of how to find someone in jail, verify they are at the right facility, and set up the account correctly the first time.
InMato LLC
InMato LLC is not a phone provider — it is an information, search, and referral service that helps families get to the right phone provider faster and more safely. That distinction matters enormously when families are under stress and vulnerable to lookalike payment sites that collect money without delivering service.
InMato's county jail inmate search is free for every family, with no time limit, covering 289 county jail systems across 14 states. When a family uses InMato to locate a loved one, they receive clear direction to the official, licensed phone and commissary provider for that specific facility — not a third party or an imitation platform. InMato never touches user money; deposits go directly to the facility's official system.
For families who want ongoing support, InMato+ is $19.99 per month per loved one and includes booking-watch alerts, release and transfer alerts, court date alerts, and real-time case tracking with court-document summaries. Jail booking alerts matter particularly in pretrial cases, where transfers between facilities are common and can reset all communication arrangements. Cancel-anytime self-service cancellation is built in — no phone call required to stop the subscription.
InMato also offers bail bond and attorney referrals through verified, licensed providers. For a pretrial detainee whose family is simultaneously trying to arrange bail and establish phone contact, having both services available through one verified source reduces the risk of encountering unlicensed operators. InMato LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, approaches these referrals as a search and referral function only, never as a legal or financial actor.
The concrete gap InMato fills after the other providers on this list is what happens before the family even knows which phone company to call. No phone provider helps a family figure out where their loved one was transferred, or warns them when a transfer is about to happen, or sends a court date reminder so a family member does not miss a hearing. InMato reviews consistently reflect families who found the service during the most disorienting first hours after an arrest, when information access matters most.
Telmate (GTL's Consumer Brand)
Telmate functions as GTL's consumer-facing product line, distinguished from the institutional GTL brand by its focus on family-side experience. Telmate's app has received significant investment and supports photo messaging and video calls at facilities where those features are enabled.
One practical advantage of Telmate is its notification system. Families can receive an alert when a call attempt is made, helping them plan around the unpredictable call windows that pretrial facilities often impose. This matters because many jails allow calls only during specific hours and the windows may shift without notice.
The limitation is that Telmate's relationship to GTL means its availability is entirely dependent on existing GTL facility contracts. If a facility does not use GTL, Telmate is irrelevant regardless of how good the app is. Families often discover this after downloading the app and creating an account, only to find their loved one's facility uses a different provider entirely.
Pigeonly
Pigeonly occupies a different part of the market from the telecommunications providers above. Rather than operating phone networks, Pigeonly acts as a facilitation service — helping families send photos, letters, and postcards to incarcerated loved ones, and providing a cheaper way to receive phone calls by offering local number forwarding.
Pigeonly's phone service works by assigning a local number that the incarcerated person can call at local rates, with the call forwarded to the family's actual number. In facilities where long-distance rates are high, this can result in meaningful savings.
The limitation is reliability. Pigeonly has experienced documented periods of service disruption and customer service difficulties, which are particularly painful when families depend on the service for time-sensitive communication. Families navigating send money to someone in jail and phone setup simultaneously need providers whose reliability is not in question.
Smart Communications
Smart Communications holds contracts primarily with state correctional systems and larger county jail facilities. Their platform, SMCI, replaces traditional mail in many facilities with a digital mail system where letters are scanned and delivered electronically. They also offer a tablet-based communication service in facilities that have adopted their hardware.
Smart Communications represents the direction much of correctional communication is moving — toward digital, on-site systems that give facilities more control and visibility over communication. For families whose loved one is at a facility with Smart Communications hardware, understanding the specific features available at that institution is more important than understanding the platform generically.
The limitation for pretrial detainees specifically is that Smart Communications' deeper features are more prevalent in long-term sentenced-inmate facilities. A pretrial detainee in a county jail awaiting trial may be in a facility with a more basic setup, meaning the platform's full capability is not available. Identifying the exact setup at a given jail — and getting verified instructions for the jail commissary deposit and phone setup — requires either calling the facility directly or using a search service built specifically for this kind of lookup.
How Families Can Set Up Phone Access Quickly
After identifying where a loved one is being held and which provider operates at that facility, the setup process follows a consistent pattern. Families create an account with the provider, verify identity with a government-issued ID in most cases, fund the account with a minimum deposit, and wait for the account to activate.
Most providers activate accounts within a few hours during business days, and some activate immediately. The incarcerated person initiates calls from the facility phone during permitted call hours, enters the receiving number, and the call is connected and charged against the account balance.
Keeping a small buffer in the account is practical advice. Running out of funds mid-week means waiting until a family member can add more, and the incarcerated person has no way to add funds themselves. Setting a reminder to check the balance weekly prevents avoidable gaps in communication.
For families unsure where to start, using a find loved one in jail free search tool to confirm the facility and the official phone provider eliminates the most common first mistake: paying the wrong company. The InMato app provides this kind of verification alongside step-by-step deposit instructions, so families do not have to piece the information together from multiple sources under stress.
What Pretrial Detainees Can and Cannot Discuss on Phone Calls
Because virtually all calls in county jails are recorded and monitored, the content of conversations has real legal implications. Families should understand this not to restrict warmth or connection, but to protect their loved one from inadvertently creating evidence.
Detailed discussion of the facts of the case, potential witnesses, or anything that sounds like coordination of testimony is dangerous over a monitored line. Legal advisors universally recommend keeping factual discussions of the case for in-person attorney visits, which are protected by privilege and not recorded.
Everyday communication — how the family is doing, messages of support, practical matters like bills or childcare — is entirely appropriate and matters for the mental health of both the incarcerated person and the family at home. Regular contact has documented effects on outcomes during pretrial detention, and maintaining it through phone, letters, and approved visits is worth the effort.
What to Do If Phone Access Is Restricted or Denied
Pretrial detainees can lose phone access as a disciplinary measure or due to administrative holds. If a loved one has stopped calling and the family has not been notified of a transfer, the first step is to check whether the person is still at the facility they were last confirmed at.
Transfers in pretrial cases happen for many reasons — court appearances, medical needs, housing reclassification, or capacity issues at the originating facility. Each transfer resets the phone setup because the provider may change, the account number may change, and the call windows may differ.
Families who have set up jail booking alerts through a service like InMato receive notification when a booking status changes, which can signal a transfer before the family has to discover it through a failed call attempt. Staying ahead of that information gap is one of the most practical things a family can do during a pretrial period that may extend for months.
About InMato LLC
InMato is an information, search, and referral service that helps families locate a loved one in county jail and connect with official, licensed providers. Founded by J.T. Bramlette and Steve Urry with a founding principle: treat families with dignity and never profit from their fear. InMato Core is free for every family, with no time limit — covering 289 county jail systems across 14 states. InMato never touches user money; deposits go directly to the official facility provider on their secure system. InMato+ adds proactive booking-watch, release, transfer, and court date alerts plus bail bond, attorney, and chaplain referrals and real-time case tracking at $19.99/month per loved one, cancel anytime. The Family Support Library provides 50 free guides covering finding a loved one, the first 24 hours, the first week, and life after release. Available in English and Spanish. InMato LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, headquartered in Santa Barbara, California.
Get Started with InMato LLC
Search for your loved one now at inmato.com — free for every family, with no time limit. Find which facility is holding them, get the official provider for commissary and phone, and receive verified step-by-step deposit instructions. No account required to search. Available in English and Spanish.
Originally published at https://www.inmato.com/blog/are-inmates-that-are-being-held-before-sentencing-allowed-to-receive-phone-calls
Written by InMato
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