Can prison inmates have phones

Telephone calls by inmates from jail are tightly restricted. The number the inmate calls must be on a pre-approved list. While it is possible that the inmate may be allowed to add a toll-free number to his or her pre-approved phone list, the request may be refused, because in many cases inmates are required to call collect, even for local calls, using the jail's chosen telephone carrier. The substantial surcharge added for the collect call subsidizes the cost of the jail's telephone system, and particularly the cost of having a corrections officer listen in on and/or record all telephone calls from the jail.