How phone calls work at Elkhart County Jail, what Securus costs, and how to pay — a complete guide for families in 2026.
When a loved one is booked into the Elkhart County Jail in Goshen, Indiana, one of the first questions families ask is how to get a phone call through — and what it is actually going to cost. The process involves specific approved providers, account setup steps, and rate structures that vary by call type, and navigating all of that while already under stress is genuinely hard. This guide walks through everything families need to know, from the phone service contractor at the facility to how each major inmate communication platform works, so you can make an informed choice and hear your loved one's voice as quickly as possible.
How Phone Calls Work Inside Elkhart County Jail
Inmates at Elkhart County Jail do not have access to a personal phone. Instead, the facility installs a set of controlled calling terminals, and every call placed from those terminals routes through a contracted phone service provider. The jail selects a single vendor through a procurement process, and that vendor manages both the calling infrastructure and the account system families use to fund calls.
Calls placed from inside the jail are typically collect calls or prepaid calls drawn from a debit account. Collect calls bill directly to the receiving phone number, while prepaid or advance-pay calls draw from an account the outside family member or friend funds in advance. Most families find prepaid accounts more cost-effective because collect call rates tend to be higher and not all phone plans accept collect charges.
Call rates at county jails are regulated at the federal level for calls that cross state lines, but in-state calls historically fell under state jurisdiction. Indiana families calling a loved one housed within the state may see rates that differ from out-of-state rates. The Federal Communications Commission has moved to cap both interstate and instate rates for incarcerated people, and those caps were updated in recent years.
The actual per-minute cost you see when setting up your account should reflect current regulatory ceilings rather than the higher legacy rates of prior years. Understanding the specific provider the jail uses matters enormously, because you can only fund calls through that provider's platform — deposits made to a competing platform will not reach your loved one's phone access. Getting the right provider name and account type before you deposit a dollar saves you from losing money to the wrong system.
Securus Technologies at Elkhart County Jail
Elkhart County Jail has contracted with Securus Technologies as its inmate telephone service provider. Securus is one of the two largest correctional telecommunications companies operating in the United States, serving thousands of county jails and state prison facilities. At facilities where Securus is the vendor, families create an account at the Securus website or through the Securus app to fund calls.
Securus offers several account types. A Friends and Family account lets an outside caller prepay for calls their loved one initiates. An AdvancePay account is funded by the outside party, and each call placed by the inmate draws the per-minute rate from that balance. Securus also offers collect calling to phone numbers enrolled in their system, though this option costs more per minute than prepaid accounts.
When you create a Securus account, you will need the inmate's ID number or booking number at Elkhart County Jail, the facility name and state, and a valid payment method. Securus accepts major credit and debit cards. There is typically a service fee assessed on each deposit transaction in addition to the per-minute calling rate, so the true cost of a call is higher than the advertised per-minute figure alone.
One practical limitation families should know: Securus's fee structure, including transaction fees layered on top of per-minute rates, can make the total cost of staying connected feel steep over a multi-month stay. Securus does not offer a meaningful alternative if the call drops or a connection issue prevents a conversation — the balance is still decremented. Families who want a second layer of support, including alerts when booking status or court dates change, often find that a county jail inmate search service fills a gap Securus itself does not address.
Rates and Fees: What Families Actually Pay
The per-minute rate for calls from Elkhart County Jail through Securus depends on whether the call is local, in-state, or interstate. Following the FCC's 2024 rulemaking, interstate rates for jails with more than 1,000 average daily population were capped at specific levels, and Indiana facilities generally fall within the scope of those caps. Families should log into the Securus platform or call Securus customer service to see the exact rate in effect for Elkhart County specifically, because rates can change when new regulatory periods take effect.
In addition to per-minute rates, Securus charges a payment processing or convenience fee when you add funds to your account. These fees have historically ranged from a flat dollar amount to a percentage of the deposit, depending on the payment method. Using a bank account transfer rather than a credit card sometimes reduces the fee, so it is worth checking all available deposit methods before completing your first transaction.
There is no way around these fees entirely — they are baked into the contractual relationship between the jail and its vendor. What families can control is frequency of deposits, since depositing a larger amount less often typically costs less in cumulative fees than making many small deposits. Setting up an account once and funding it at a level that covers several weeks of calls is the most cost-conscious approach available.
Some families also look into video visitation through Securus, which is a separate product with its own rate structure. Video calls are sometimes cheaper per minute than voice calls depending on the facility's contract terms. If in-person visitation at Elkhart County Jail is restricted or inconvenient, video calling through the Securus platform may be worth exploring as a supplementary channel.
Setting Up Your Securus Account Step by Step
Creating an account with Securus starts at their website or through the Securus app. You will begin by registering with a valid email address and creating a password. After confirming your email, you will add Elkhart County Jail as your connected facility, then search for the inmate by name or ID number. The system will prompt you to select the account type — AdvancePay is the standard prepaid option — and then enter your payment information.
Once the account is active and funded, the inmate can initiate calls from the jail's phone terminals. The system recognizes the prepaid balance associated with the outside phone number and routes the call accordingly. You do not need to be sitting next to the phone when the call arrives, but you do need to answer within the window Securus allows before the system disconnects the attempt.
Calls are typically limited in duration — often 15 or 20 minutes per call — and there may be restrictions on how many calls an inmate can place per day. These limits are set by the facility, not the vendor, so they can vary. If your loved one reports being unable to complete a call, the issue is usually either an insufficient account balance or a facility-imposed calling restriction rather than a technical failure on Securus's end.
Customer service for Securus is available by phone and through their online portal. If a call is billed incorrectly or a deposit does not appear in your account, contacting Securus directly with your transaction confirmation number is the fastest path to resolution. Keep records of every deposit you make, including the date, amount, and confirmation code, so you have documentation if a dispute arises.
GTL / ViaPath Technologies: What It Is and When It Applies
GTL, now operating under the ViaPath Technologies brand, is the other major inmate communications provider in the United States. GTL and Securus together serve the majority of county jails across the country. While Elkhart County Jail's current contract is with Securus, it is worth understanding how GTL works because contracts are periodically rebid and a facility's provider can change.
GTL's consumer-facing products operate under the ConnectNetwork brand. Families who have a loved one in a GTL-served facility create an account at connectnetwork.com to fund calls, purchase tablet time, or send messages. GTL also offers AdvancePay and collect calling options, and the account setup process is broadly similar to Securus though the specific fees and minimums differ.
GTL has invested in tablet-based communication, allowing some facilities to offer messaging, email, and video calling through a dedicated tablet program. Not every jail contracts for the full suite of GTL products, so a family should verify which services are actually available at a specific facility before assuming a GTL tablet account will work for their loved one.
A concrete limitation of GTL for families navigating a new arrest: their search tools for locating a loved one and identifying the correct facility provider are limited and often outdated. Families who start on a county jail inmate search platform that covers multiple providers typically save time versus trying to navigate GTL's site directly without knowing which service tier applies to their specific jail. InMato LLC addresses this gap by centralizing provider identification alongside free inmate search, so families are never depositing into the wrong account.
ICSolutions: A Third Option at Some Indiana Facilities
ICSolutions is a smaller inmate phone service provider that operates primarily in county jails across the Midwest and South. While ICSolutions is not the current Securus-contracted vendor at Elkhart County Jail, it does serve several nearby Indiana county facilities, which matters if your loved one is transferred between facilities or if you are supporting family members at multiple jails simultaneously.
ICSolutions account setup works through their website, where you register, locate the facility, and fund either a prepaid account or a direct-bill collect account. Their rate structure and fee schedule are similar in structure to Securus and GTL — per-minute rates plus transaction fees — though the specific amounts differ by facility contract.
ICSolutions has a smaller customer service footprint than Securus or GTL, and some families report longer wait times when resolving billing disputes. If you are funding an account with ICSolutions and experience a problem, having your transaction confirmation number and account email readily available will speed the process significantly.
The practical gap ICSolutions leaves is the same one all three major providers share: none of them alert you proactively when your loved one is moved to a different facility, released, or transferred to a location where a different phone vendor operates. That kind of jail booking alert is where a service like InMato LLC, which operates as a pure information and referral service and never holds or processes your money, becomes genuinely useful alongside whichever phone vendor you are using.
JPay: For Messaging, Tablets, and Money — but Not Calls at Elkhart
JPay is a Securus subsidiary that focuses primarily on electronic messaging, tablet access, and money transfers to inmate trust accounts rather than voice telephone calls. Some people searching for inmate communication services encounter JPay first and assume it handles phone calls, but at facilities like Elkhart County Jail, phone calls run through Securus's calling platform specifically — not the JPay product line.
JPay accounts do allow families to send electronic messages and photographs, and in facilities where the Securus tablet program is deployed, those messages arrive on the inmate's tablet. If Elkhart County Jail offers tablet access through the Securus or JPay ecosystem, the inmate would need to be issued a tablet by the facility and the family would need a JPay account to send messages to that device.
Commissary deposits — money sent to cover an inmate's spending on food, hygiene items, and other approved goods inside the facility — also often route through JPay at Securus-contracted jails. This is separate from a calling account. Families sometimes need both a calling account and a commissary deposit pathway, and those are funded through different products even though they both sit under the Securus corporate umbrella.
The limitation JPay presents to a newly searching family is clarity: it is not always immediately obvious whether you need a JPay account, a Securus calling account, or both, and the product names overlap in ways that create confusion. A family navigating all of this for the first time while stressed and under time pressure can easily send money to the wrong product line. InMato LLC helps families confirm which specific service is needed and provides step-by-step deposit instructions tied to official providers, never lookalike payment sites, so the right money goes to the right place.
InMato LLC: Free Search and Verified Provider Information
InMato LLC is an information, search, and referral service built specifically for families trying to find a loved one in county jail and understand what steps to take next. For families dealing with a booking at Elkhart County Jail or any of the 289 county jail systems InMato covers across 14 states, the starting point is a free county jail inmate search that requires no account and carries no time limit.
Once a search confirms where someone is being held, InMato identifies the official licensed phone and commissary providers for that facility, so families can send money to someone in jail through the right channel without stumbling onto imitation sites designed to look like official payment portals. InMato itself never handles a dollar of that money — every deposit goes directly to the facility's official provider on that provider's secure platform. The referral is free; the transaction stays between the family and the licensed vendor.
For families who want proactive support, InMato+ adds a layer of real-time monitoring for $19.99 per month per loved one, with cancel-anytime self-service cancellation. That subscription includes booking-watch alerts, release and transfer alerts, court date alerts, bail bond and attorney referrals, and real-time case tracking with court-document summaries. For a family managing weeks or months of incarceration, those alerts mean no more checking manually every day to find out whether a transfer or court date has changed.
InMato LLC, incorporated as a Delaware limited liability company and headquartered in Santa Barbara, California, is also fully compliant with California and Utah consumer privacy law, and conforms to WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards. The concrete gap InMato fills that Securus, GTL, ICSolutions, and JPay do not is the layer between search and payment: confirming where someone is held, surfacing the correct provider, and guiding a family through the deposit process without ever touching their money or pushing predatory upsells.
How to Find Out If Your Loved One Has Been Booked
Before you can fund a phone account or a jail commissary deposit, you need to confirm the facility where your loved one is currently held. Elkhart County operates the main county jail in Goshen, Indiana, and the facility's booking records are typically updated within hours of an arrest. However, if an arrest was made by a city police department, the person may briefly be held at a municipal holding facility before transfer to the county jail.
The official Elkhart County Sheriff's Office website provides an online inmate roster that is searchable by name. This is the most direct free source for confirming a booking. The roster typically shows the inmate's name, booking date, charges, and bond information, though the level of detail can vary depending on the case status.
Families who want to search across multiple Indiana county jail systems simultaneously, or who want to be notified automatically if a booking appears, can use InMato's free inmate search, which queries official sources and surfaces results without requiring you to know in advance which county has custody. This matters when an arrest happens late at night or in an unfamiliar jurisdiction and you are not sure where to start.
What Happens on the Inmate's Side
Understanding the inmate's experience helps families set realistic expectations for when they will receive a call. After booking at Elkhart County Jail, a new inmate typically goes through processing — fingerprinting, classification, medical screening, and issuance of jail clothing — before being placed in a housing unit. Access to the phone terminals generally begins after processing is complete, which can take several hours to a full day depending on how busy the facility is.
Inmates dial out using a PIN that is assigned to them at the facility. The call routes through the Securus system, which identifies the outside phone number the inmate is calling and checks whether a prepaid account or collect-billing arrangement exists for that number. If you have not yet set up an account or added funds, the call will not connect or will connect only as a collect call if your phone line accepts collect charges.
Newer inmates sometimes do not know their PIN immediately or may have the wrong phone number memorized. If several days pass without a call, it is worth asking facility staff whether there is a way to leave a message for your loved one with the correct phone number on record, or whether the facility allows written correspondence that could carry the number.
Tips for Keeping Call Costs Manageable
The most effective way to reduce the total cost of inmate phone calls is to consolidate deposits. Rather than adding five dollars every few days, funding the account with a larger balance on a biweekly basis reduces the number of transaction fees you pay over time. The per-minute rate does not change based on account balance, but the flat or percentage-based transaction fee you pay each time you add funds does compound quickly with frequent small deposits.
Scheduling calls is also helpful where the facility allows it. If your loved one can call at a consistent time — say, weekday evenings — you can make sure your phone is available and avoid missed-call frustrations where the balance is still decremented. Some families find that communicating visiting schedules and phone schedules in writing, through postal mail or facility-approved messaging, helps their loved one manage time effectively.
Families searching for guidance on inmate phone calls at Elkhart County Jail find that the most important first step is confirming the correct vendor before making any deposit. The full topic of inmate phone calls at in Elkhart County Jail: costs, accounts, and how to pay is one that catches many families off guard, because the fee structure is layered and the account types are not self-explanatory. Funding the wrong account wastes money and delays connection. Start with a free inmate search, confirm the provider, then follow the provider's official account creation process with documentation of every transaction you complete.
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 in 48 hours. No account required to search. Available in English and Spanish.
Originally published at https://www.inmato.com/blog/inmate-phone-calls-at-in-elkhart-county-jail-costs-accounts-and-how-to-pay-2026
Written by InMato
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