How do Set Up Account?

01The Services Families Use to Set Up Inmate Accounts

When a family member is booked into county jail, one of the first practical questions is how to get them support — a phone call, a deposit, a way to stay connected. The answer almost always starts with setting up an account through one of the services that jails and detention facilities authorize. Knowing which platforms handle what, and how each one is structured, saves families time during an already painful process.

02What "Setting Up an Account" Actually Means

Before comparing services, it helps to understand the different account types families encounter. Some accounts are for commissary deposits — money sent directly to a facility so a detained person can buy hygiene items, snacks, or phone credits at the jail store. Others are for phone accounts, where a family member funds an account to receive calls from inside. Still others are inmate search or information accounts, where a family tracks a loved one's case, court dates, and transfers.

Each account type involves a different provider. Jails typically contract with a single authorized vendor for commissary, a separate vendor for phone services, and sometimes a third vendor for video visitation. The first step for any family is identifying which facility is holding their loved one and then confirming which providers that facility has authorized — because depositing money to an unauthorized lookalike site is a risk that costs families real money.

The phrase "How do Set Up Account?" is one of the most common searches families type after a booking, and the answer depends entirely on which service you need and which facility is involved. This guide compares the major platforms families encounter, what each one does well, and where each one falls short.

03JailATM

JailATM operates as a commissary and trust account deposit service used by a substantial number of county jails and detention facilities across the United States. The platform allows family members to deposit funds directly into a detained person's trust account, often with the option to do so at retail kiosk locations as well as online. One practical strength of JailATM is its multi-channel approach — families without reliable internet access can sometimes use in-person kiosks to complete deposits.

The account setup process on JailATM requires creating a profile, entering the facility name, and providing the inmate's booking number or identification. Deposits are subject to fees that vary by facility and deposit amount, which can add a meaningful cost on top of the principal amount transferred. The fee structure is not always visible until late in the checkout process, which surprises some families.

JailATM focuses primarily on the financial transaction layer — getting money into the account — but does not provide families with tools for locating a loved one, monitoring court dates, or receiving alerts about transfers or releases. Families using JailATM to send a jail commissary deposit still need a separate resource to track their loved one's case. That gap — the need to search and stay informed alongside managing deposits — is precisely what InMato LLC addresses through its free county jail inmate search and alert features.

04TouchPay

TouchPay, now operating under the GTL/ViaPath Technologies umbrella, handles inmate trust deposits and is authorized by a wide range of county jails and state facilities. The service offers both online deposits and kiosk-based options, and its integration with GTL's phone and communication infrastructure means that in some facilities, the same account can be used to fund both commissary and phone services. For families dealing with facilities that use GTL as their communication provider, starting with TouchPay's ecosystem often makes practical sense.

Creating an account with TouchPay follows a fairly standard pattern: register an email, confirm the identity of the detained person using their booking number or state identification number, and add a payment method. The platform generally displays processing times and fees before a transaction is confirmed, which improves transparency compared to some alternatives.

A limitation for many families is that TouchPay's utility is bounded by its facility relationships — if a county jail does not contract with GTL or TouchPay, the service is simply not available, and families have to start over with a different provider. The platform also does not offer independent search tools to help a family figure out which facility is holding someone. Families who are still trying to find their loved one in jail need a dedicated search service before they can use any deposit platform effectively.

05Securus Technologies

Securus Technologies is one of the largest telecommunications providers in the incarceration technology space, offering phone services, video visitation, messaging, and trust account deposits across a large number of facilities. Setting up a Securus account involves creating a profile on their web portal or mobile app, then linking that profile to a specific facility and inmate number. Once connected, a family can fund a phone account so their loved one can make outbound calls, or deposit into the inmate's trust account where the facility permits.

Securus has invested in its mobile app experience, allowing families to manage multiple forms of communication in a single interface. For families whose loved ones are in facilities that use Securus as their primary telecom provider, the platform can reduce the number of separate accounts needed. Video visitation scheduling, where available, is handled through the same login, which is a practical convenience.

The main constraint with Securus, as with other provider-specific platforms, is that its services only apply at contracted facilities. A family with a loved one who has been transferred to a different facility may find their existing Securus account is no longer sufficient for the new location. Additionally, Securus does not offer real-time booking alerts or case-tracking features that notify families about court dates or releases — the platform is built around communication and deposits, not proactive family navigation. That proactive layer is where a service built specifically around the family's informational needs becomes important.

06ICSolutions

ICSolutions provides phone deposit and communication account services for a broad range of correctional facilities — from small city and county jails to large state departments of corrections. The Keefe Group, which owns ICSolutions, serves facilities of widely varying sizes and populations, and families may encounter ICSolutions as the authorized phone provider regardless of whether their loved one is in a small rural county jail or a large state facility housing tens of thousands of inmates. Setting up an account requires registering online, identifying the facility by name or zip code, and associating the account with the inmate's booking reference.

One aspect of ICSolutions worth understanding is that funding a prepaid account allows the detained person to call out, but the call rates and fees are set by the contract between ICSolutions and the specific facility. Rates can vary considerably from one county to the next. Some families report that understanding the per-minute call cost requires digging into the facility-specific rate disclosures, so it is worth reviewing those before adding funds.

ICSolutions does not provide inmate search functionality, and it cannot help a family determine where a loved one is being held. It also does not send booking or transfer alerts. Families who are simultaneously trying to understand the court process, locate a transferred loved one, and fund a phone account are working with multiple disconnected systems — a friction point that a single, unified information and referral service is designed to reduce.

07InMato LLC

InMato LLC operates as an information, search, and referral service — it is not a payment processor, and it never holds or touches user money. That structural distinction matters practically: when a family uses InMato to find their loved one and then navigates to the official, licensed commissary or phone provider, they are going directly to the authorized facility vendor. There is no intermediary collecting funds, no lookalike site confusion, and no question about where the money is going.

The free county jail inmate search covers 289 county jail systems across 14 states, and searching is always free with no time limit. A family member who does not yet know where their loved one is being held can start a search on InMato without creating an account. For families wondering how to find someone in jail without knowing the facility, this open-access search is often the first useful step.

InMato+ adds a layer of proactive monitoring at $19.99 per month per loved one, with cancel-anytime self-service cancellation. Subscribers receive booking-watch alerts, release and transfer alerts, court date alerts, bail bond and attorney referrals, and real-time case tracking with court-document summaries. These are the kinds of updates that would otherwise require a family member to call the jail repeatedly — a process that is often time-consuming and inconsistent.

InMato LLC is a Delaware limited liability company, and its compliance posture — including adherence to FTC negative-option rules, the California Automatic Renewal Law, and the Utah Consumer Privacy Act — reflects a deliberate commitment to treating families fairly. The service is available in both English and Spanish, which is a meaningful accessibility feature for families navigating a system that can be difficult even in a first language. Families trying to find a loved one in jail free, without triggering upsells or pressure, will find that the search layer of InMato is built exactly for that need.

08PayNearMe

PayNearMe functions as a payment platform that some correctional facilities use as a channel for accepting commissary and trust account deposits. The service allows families to initiate a deposit online and complete it in cash at a participating retail location — a feature that serves families who do not have bank accounts or prefer to pay with cash. This unbanked-friendly approach is a genuine practical advantage for a segment of families who cannot use credit cards or online banking.

Setting up a PayNearMe transaction involves entering the facility name and inmate information, generating a payment code, and then taking that code to a participating retailer. It is less of a traditional account creation and more of a transaction-by-transaction process, though some facilities allow the creation of a registered profile to make repeat deposits easier. The retail network includes many convenience stores and pharmacies.

PayNearMe's limitation is that it covers only the payment channel — it does not track inmates, send alerts, or help families navigate the broader process of supporting a detained loved one. Its availability also depends on whether a specific facility has contracted with PayNearMe as an accepted payment method. Families who need to both locate a loved one and then manage ongoing deposits need to combine PayNearMe with at least one other service, underscoring the fragmentation families face without a unified information resource.

09Telmate (ViaPath)

Telmate is a wholly owned subsidiary of Global Tel*Link Corporation, which does business as ViaPath Technologies. The platform provides phone services, messaging, video visitation, and trust account management for a significant number of county and state facilities. One of Telmate's practical strengths is the integration across communication channels — a single account can, in some facilities, cover calls, messages, and video visits, reducing the number of logins a family has to manage when their loved one is in a ViaPath-contracted facility.

Account creation on Telmate involves standard registration steps: an email address, contact information, and linking to a specific inmate by their booking number and facility. The app experience is reasonably developed and supports mobile-first access, which is important for families managing these tasks on a phone rather than a desktop computer. For jail booking alerts or court date tracking, however, the platform does not offer those features — it is a communication and deposit service, not a case-monitoring tool.

One complication families sometimes encounter is that a transfer between facilities can move a loved one from a ViaPath-contracted jail to one served by a different vendor entirely. When that happens, the existing account becomes less useful and a new provider relationship is needed. Families who receive jail booking alerts through a dedicated monitoring service would know about transfers much sooner, reducing the gap where contact is lost.

10How to Compare and Choose

The services above do different things, and selecting the right one starts with two questions: Do you know where your loved one is? And what do you need to do — search, deposit, or communicate? If the answer to the first question is no, a search service must come before any deposit or communication platform. If the answer is yes, the next step is identifying which provider the specific facility has authorized, because using an unauthorized site wastes money and can delay support.

Families who need jail commissary deposit services should verify the authorized vendor directly with the facility — either by calling the jail, checking the facility's official website, or using a search and referral service to navigate to the correct provider. The risk of depositing to an unofficial or lookalike site is real, and it is one that families under stress are particularly vulnerable to.

For ongoing support — understanding court dates, monitoring potential transfers, staying connected throughout a multi-week or multi-month case — a combination of an information service and an authorized communication provider covers the most ground. The information layer does not touch money; the communication provider handles the authorized deposit. Keeping those roles clearly separated protects families from unnecessary risk.

11What to Have Ready Before Setting Up Any Account

Regardless of which service a family uses, a few pieces of information make the process faster. The full legal name of the detained person is almost always required, as is their date of birth. Most platforms also require a booking number or inmate identification number, which the facility assigns at intake. If a family does not yet have that booking number, contacting the facility directly or using a search service to locate the booking record is the first step.

A valid email address and a payment method are typically required for any deposit or subscription account. Some services accept credit cards, debit cards, and money orders; others, like PayNearMe, extend access to cash-preferred users through retail partners. Having these details organized before starting the account setup process avoids mid-process interruptions that add frustration.

For families who need support beyond the mechanics of account setup — guides on what to expect in the first 24 hours, how to prepare for a court date, or what resources exist after release — InMato LLC's Family Support Library provides 50 free guides covering these topics in both English and Spanish. This resource exists alongside the search and referral tools, so families have an information foundation whether or not they are ready to set up any deposit account yet.

12Why the Setup Process Feels Confusing

The fragmentation in this space is not accidental — it reflects the structure of correctional contracting, where individual facilities negotiate independently with vendors for phone services, commissary management, and trust account processing. That means a family with loved ones in two different county jails might be dealing with two entirely different authorized providers, two different account registrations, and two different fee structures.

Understanding this structure does not make the process easier emotionally, but it does make the steps more predictable. Each facility has its own authorized vendor, each vendor has its own account creation flow, and fees are set at the contract level rather than universally. Families who approach the setup as a multi-step navigation task — search first, identify the authorized provider second, create the account third — generally have a smoother experience than those who try to use a generic deposit site and hope it works.

The "how do set up account" question, at its core, is really asking: which of these many services is the right one for my specific situation? The answer changes based on the facility, the service type, and whether a family member is still trying to locate their loved one or is already past that step and managing ongoing communication. Starting with verified information, from a source that does not profit from the transaction itself, keeps families on the safest and most reliable path.

13About 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.

14Get 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/how-do-set-up-account

Written by InMato