Telecommunication Systems: Phones, Email, and Tablets: Difference between revisions
No edit summary |
TerryMoses (talk | contribs) copyedit: set DEFAULTSORT sort key |
||
| (8 intermediate revisions by 3 users not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{MetaDescription|How phones, email, and tablets work in federal prison. TRUFONE calling, TRULINCS and CorrLinks email, inmate tablets, the Martha Wright-Reed Act, and call rate caps.}} | |||
People in federal custody stay in touch with the outside world through a handful of monitored systems run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Calls go through an inmate phone platform the BOP calls TRUFONE. Email runs on a closed system named TRULINCS, which families reach through a website called CorrLinks. Some facilities also issue handheld tablets loaded with media and basic messaging. None of these systems give a person open access to the internet. Each one is recorded or screened, the phone system is capped at a set number of minutes per month, and the per-minute price of a call has been the subject of a long federal rate fight that reached the Federal Communications Commission.<ref name="bop-trulincs">{{cite web |title=TRULINCS Topics |url=https://www.bop.gov/inmates/trulincs.jsp |publisher=Federal Bureau of Prisons |access-date=June 3, 2026}}</ref><ref name="trufone-pia">{{cite web |title=Privacy Impact Assessment for the TRUFONE Inmate Telephone System |url=https://www.bop.gov/foia/docs/trufone.pdf |publisher=Federal Bureau of Prisons |access-date=June 3, 2026}}</ref> | |||
== Overview == | |||
Federal communication is built around a single idea. A person inside can reach a short list of approved people on the outside, and staff can review almost everything that passes through. Phone numbers and email contacts go on an approved list before any contact happens. Conversations on the phone are recorded. Email is read by trained staff before it moves in either direction. The only routine exception is contact with a lawyer, which is treated as confidential and is not recorded or read.<ref name="bop-trulincs" /><ref name="ps5264">{{cite web |title=Program Statement 5264.08, Inmate Telephone Regulations |url=https://www.bop.gov/policy/progstat/5264_008.pdf |publisher=Federal Bureau of Prisons |access-date=June 3, 2026}}</ref> | |||
The systems serve two goals that pull against each other. Family contact during a sentence is tied to better outcomes after release, so the BOP wants people calling and writing home. At the same time, the same channels can be used to run schemes, intimidate witnesses, or move contraband, so every channel is locked down and watched. The design choices, the time limits, and the prices all sit somewhere between those two pressures. | |||
== Telephones (TRUFONE) == | |||
TRUFONE is the name the BOP uses for its centralized inmate telephone system. A person places a call from a phone in a housing unit, enters a personal identification number, and dials a number that already sits on an approved list. The system announces that the call is from a federal prison and that it is being recorded. Calls run on a timer. A single call cuts off at fifteen minutes, and there is a short required gap before the next one can start.<ref name="ps5264" /><ref name="trufone-pia" /> | |||
The monthly limit is the part most families learn fast. Under the BOP's telephone regulations, a person with a phone account is held to 300 minutes per calendar month. The bureau ordinarily grants an extra 100 minutes in November and December for the holidays. A warden can approve more minutes for good cause once someone hits the cap. The 300-minute ceiling does not touch legal calls, which are handled separately and are not counted against it.<ref name="ps5264" /><ref name="prisonphonejustice-9th">{{cite web |title=Ninth Circuit Revives Challenge by Federal Prisoner in Arizona to BOP's 300-Minute Monthly Phone Cap |url=https://www.prisonphonejustice.org/news/2024/feb/1/ninth-circuit-revives-challenge-federal-prisoner-arizona-bops-300-minute-monthly-phone-cap/ |publisher=Prison Phone Justice |date=February 1, 2024 |access-date=June 3, 2026}}</ref> | |||
= | The 300-minute cap has been challenged in court. In early 2024 the Ninth Circuit revived a federal prisoner's lawsuit in Arizona arguing the limit was too restrictive, sending the case back to a lower court rather than ending it.<ref name="prisonphonejustice-9th" /> | ||
In late 2024 the BOP layered a benefit on top of the regular system. People taking part in First Step Act recidivism-reduction programming receive 300 free phone minutes each month, separate from minutes they pay for. The bureau described the change as a way to encourage program participation and keep families connected.<ref name="bop-phone-update">{{cite web |title=FBOP Updates to Phone Call Policies and Time Credit System |url=https://www.bop.gov/news/20241004-fbop-updates-to-phone-call-policies-and-time-credit-system.jsp |publisher=Federal Bureau of Prisons |date=October 4, 2024 |access-date=June 3, 2026}}</ref> | |||
== Email (TRULINCS / CorrLinks) == | |||
== | Email runs on TRULINCS, short for the Trust Fund Limited Inmate Computer System. The "limited" in the name is the point. A person composes and reads messages on a shared terminal in a housing unit. There is no web browser, no live internet, and no way to open a link or download a file. The system handles plain text only.<ref name="bop-trulincs" /><ref name="ps5265">{{cite web |title=Program Statement 5265.13, Trust Fund Limited Inmate Computer System (TRULINCS) - Electronic Messaging |url=https://www.bop.gov/policy/progstat/5265_013.pdf |publisher=Federal Bureau of Prisons |access-date=June 3, 2026}}</ref> | ||
Setting up contact takes a few steps on both ends. The person inside adds someone to a contact list, and staff review the request. CorrLinks then emails that contact and asks whether they want to accept messages or block them. Only after the outside person accepts can the two exchange anything. Outside contacts manage all of this at CorrLinks.com. Messages do not land in a normal email inbox. A family member logs into the CorrLinks site to read and write.<ref name="bop-trulincs" /><ref name="ps5265" /> | |||
Nothing moves instantly. Every message is held for staff review, so a note takes time to reach either side. The BOP charges the person inside by the minute for time spent in the messaging system, not the people writing to them. Community contacts pay nothing to use CorrLinks. As of the BOP's published guidance the inmate cost is five cents per minute of connected time.<ref name="bop-trulincs" /><ref name="ps5265" /> | |||
== | == Tablets == | ||
Some federal facilities issue handheld tablets to people in custody. These are not consumer devices. A tablet runs a locked-down operating system with no camera and no open internet. It carries a fixed catalog of approved content, which can include e-books, music, games, educational material, and, on many units, a way to read and send TRULINCS messages away from the shared terminal.<ref name="bop-trulincs" /> | |||
Tablets follow a pay-for-use model. The device itself is usually loaned at no cost, but the content on it is not free. People buy songs, books, games, and message time out of their commissary accounts. The rollout has not been uniform across the system, and access depends on the facility and a person's security level. The BOP positions the tablets as a tool for education and constructive time rather than a replacement for the phone and the email terminal.<ref name="bop-trulincs" /> | |||
== Costs and the Rate Cap == | |||
The price of a prison phone call has been a federal policy fight for years. For a long stretch, families paid high per-minute rates plus extra fees to fund and connect a call, and a large share of the money flowed back to the prison or jail as commissions. Reform efforts focused on capping the per-minute rate and stripping out the add-on charges.<ref name="fcc-ipcs">{{cite web |title=Incarcerated People's Communications Services |url=https://www.fcc.gov/general/ipcs |publisher=Federal Communications Commission |access-date=June 3, 2026}}</ref> | |||
== | Congress changed the legal footing in early 2023 by enacting the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act of 2022. The law expanded the FCC's authority to regulate the rates for calls to and from people who are incarcerated, including the in-state calls the commission previously could not reach. The act is named for Martha Wright-Reed, a grandmother who spent years fighting the cost of calls from her incarcerated grandson.<ref name="fcc-ipcs" /><ref name="fcc-fr-2024">{{cite web |title=Incarcerated People's Communications Services; Implementation of the Martha Wright-Reed Act; Rates for Interstate Inmate Calling Services |url=https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/09/20/2024-19037/incarcerated-peoples-communication-services-implementation-of-the-martha-wright-reed-act-rates-for |publisher=Federal Register |date=September 20, 2024 |access-date=June 3, 2026}}</ref> | ||
The FCC acted on that authority in July 2024. The commission adopted an order setting new caps on per-minute call rates, banning many ancillary fees, and prohibiting the commissions that had long flowed from telecom vendors to facilities. The caps varied by facility size. For prisons and large jails the order set a cap near six cents per minute for audio calls, with somewhat higher caps for smaller jails and separate caps for video calls.<ref name="fcc-fr-2024" /><ref name="fcc-2024-order">{{cite web |title=FCC Approves Incarcerated People's Communications Services Reforms |url=https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-415141A1.pdf |publisher=Federal Communications Commission |date=July 2024 |access-date=June 3, 2026}}</ref> | |||
== | The 2024 order did not settle the matter. In 2025 the FCC revisited the rules. The commission postponed parts of the schedule and adopted higher interim rate caps along with a separate additive meant to cover facility costs of providing the service. The practical result is that the deep cuts described in 2024 were not the prices families ended up paying, and the exact caps continued to move through 2025. Anyone checking a current rate should treat the 2024 figures as a starting point that was later revised upward rather than a fixed schedule.<ref name="ppi-postpone">{{cite web |title=FCC postpones its groundbreaking 2024 rules, allowing excessive phone and video rates to continue |url=https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2025/07/02/fcc-reversal/ |publisher=Prison Policy Initiative |date=July 2, 2025 |access-date=June 3, 2026}}</ref><ref name="cn-revise">{{cite web |title=FCC Revises Provisions in Incarcerated People's Communications Services Order |url=https://correctionalnews.com/2025/10/30/fcc-revises-provisions-in-incarcerated-peoples-communications-services-order/ |publisher=Correctional News |date=October 30, 2025 |access-date=June 3, 2026}}</ref> | ||
Email and tablet content sit outside the FCC call-rate rules. The five-cent-per-minute TRULINCS charge and the prices for tablet songs, books, and games are set through the BOP's trust fund system and its vendors, not through the FCC order on calling services.<ref name="bop-trulincs" /> | |||
== | == Monitoring == | ||
Surveillance is built into every channel. Phone calls are recorded and can be reviewed at any time. The system plays a recorded notice on each call so both parties know it is monitored. Three-way calls and call forwarding are prohibited, and using them can cost a person their phone access.<ref name="ps5264" /><ref name="trufone-pia" /> | |||
== | Email is screened before it moves. Trained staff read messages going each direction, which is the reason notes are delayed rather than instant. Content that violates the rules can be rejected, and the system flags certain material for closer review. Tablet messaging runs through the same TRULINCS monitoring.<ref name="bop-trulincs" /><ref name="ps5265" /> | ||
The line the system draws is around legal communication. Properly identified calls and mail with an attorney are treated as confidential. Those legal calls are not recorded, and they are not counted against the 300-minute monthly cap.<ref name="ps5264" /> | |||
== | == Frequently Asked Questions == | ||
{{FAQSection/Start}} | |||
== | {{FAQ | ||
|question = How many phone minutes do federal inmates get per month? | |||
|answer = Under the Bureau of Prisons telephone regulations, a person with a phone account is limited to 300 minutes per calendar month. The bureau ordinarily allows an extra 100 minutes in November and December. A warden can approve additional minutes for good cause. Legal calls with an attorney are handled separately and do not count against the 300-minute limit. | |||
}} | |||
{{FAQ | |||
|question = Can federal inmates use the internet or email? | |||
|answer = Federal inmates do not have open internet access. They use a closed email system called TRULINCS, which families reach through the CorrLinks website. There is no web browsing, no links, and no attachments. Messages are plain text, are read by staff before delivery, and can only be exchanged with people on an approved contact list. | |||
}} | |||
==See also== | {{FAQ | ||
|question = How does CorrLinks email work? | |||
|answer = The person inside adds a contact and staff approve the request. CorrLinks then emails that contact to ask whether they accept messages. Once accepted, the two can exchange plain-text notes. Outside contacts log in at CorrLinks.com to read and write. Messages are held for staff review, so they are delayed rather than instant. Inmates are charged by the minute for time in the system, and outside contacts pay nothing. | |||
}} | |||
{{FAQ | |||
|question = What can federal inmate tablets do? | |||
|answer = Tablets in federal facilities run a locked-down system with no camera and no open internet. They carry approved content such as e-books, music, games, and educational material, and on many units they let a person read and send TRULINCS messages. The device is usually loaned at no cost, but the content is bought out of a commissary account. Availability depends on the facility and security level. | |||
}} | |||
{{FAQ | |||
|question = How much does a federal prison phone call cost? | |||
|answer = The Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act, enacted in early 2023, expanded the FCC's authority to cap these rates. The FCC's July 2024 order set caps near six cents per minute for prisons and large jails, with higher caps for smaller jails. The FCC later revised the rules in 2025 and adopted higher interim caps, so current prices differ from the 2024 figures. Check the current rate with the facility rather than relying on a single published number. | |||
}} | |||
{{FAQ | |||
|question = Are federal prison calls and emails recorded? | |||
|answer = Yes, with one exception. Phone calls are recorded and announced as monitored, and email is read by trained staff before it moves in either direction. The exception is communication with an attorney. Properly identified legal calls are confidential, are not recorded, and do not count against a person's monthly phone minutes. | |||
}} | |||
{{FAQSection/End}} | |||
== See also == | |||
* [[Visiting_Policies_and_Procedures|Visiting Policies and Procedures]] | |||
* [[First_Step_Act:_Overview_and_Implementation|First Step Act]] | |||
* [[Index_of_Federal_Prison_Facilities|Federal Bureau of Prisons]] | * [[Index_of_Federal_Prison_Facilities|Federal Bureau of Prisons]] | ||
== | == References == | ||
<references /> | |||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tablets, Telecommunication Systems: Phones, Email, and}} | |||
[[Category:Life Inside Federal Prison]] | |||
== | {{#seo: | ||
|title=Federal Prison Phones, Email, and Tablets: TRUFONE, TRULINCS, and Call Rate Caps | Prisonpedia | |||
|title_mode=replace | |||
|description=How phones, email, and tablets work in federal prison. TRUFONE calling, TRULINCS and CorrLinks email, tablets, the Martha Wright-Reed Act, and FCC call rate caps. | |||
|keywords=federal prison phone, TRUFONE, TRULINCS, CorrLinks, inmate email, inmate tablets, Martha Wright-Reed Act, prison phone rate cap, 300 minutes, FCC IPCS | |||
|type=Article | |||
|site_name=Prisonpedia | |||
|locale=en_US | |||
|modified_time=2026-06-03 | |||
}} | |||
Latest revision as of 13:58, 3 June 2026
People in federal custody stay in touch with the outside world through a handful of monitored systems run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Calls go through an inmate phone platform the BOP calls TRUFONE. Email runs on a closed system named TRULINCS, which families reach through a website called CorrLinks. Some facilities also issue handheld tablets loaded with media and basic messaging. None of these systems give a person open access to the internet. Each one is recorded or screened, the phone system is capped at a set number of minutes per month, and the per-minute price of a call has been the subject of a long federal rate fight that reached the Federal Communications Commission.[1][2]
Overview
Federal communication is built around a single idea. A person inside can reach a short list of approved people on the outside, and staff can review almost everything that passes through. Phone numbers and email contacts go on an approved list before any contact happens. Conversations on the phone are recorded. Email is read by trained staff before it moves in either direction. The only routine exception is contact with a lawyer, which is treated as confidential and is not recorded or read.[1][3]
The systems serve two goals that pull against each other. Family contact during a sentence is tied to better outcomes after release, so the BOP wants people calling and writing home. At the same time, the same channels can be used to run schemes, intimidate witnesses, or move contraband, so every channel is locked down and watched. The design choices, the time limits, and the prices all sit somewhere between those two pressures.
Telephones (TRUFONE)
TRUFONE is the name the BOP uses for its centralized inmate telephone system. A person places a call from a phone in a housing unit, enters a personal identification number, and dials a number that already sits on an approved list. The system announces that the call is from a federal prison and that it is being recorded. Calls run on a timer. A single call cuts off at fifteen minutes, and there is a short required gap before the next one can start.[3][2]
The monthly limit is the part most families learn fast. Under the BOP's telephone regulations, a person with a phone account is held to 300 minutes per calendar month. The bureau ordinarily grants an extra 100 minutes in November and December for the holidays. A warden can approve more minutes for good cause once someone hits the cap. The 300-minute ceiling does not touch legal calls, which are handled separately and are not counted against it.[3][4]
The 300-minute cap has been challenged in court. In early 2024 the Ninth Circuit revived a federal prisoner's lawsuit in Arizona arguing the limit was too restrictive, sending the case back to a lower court rather than ending it.[4]
In late 2024 the BOP layered a benefit on top of the regular system. People taking part in First Step Act recidivism-reduction programming receive 300 free phone minutes each month, separate from minutes they pay for. The bureau described the change as a way to encourage program participation and keep families connected.[5]
Email (TRULINCS / CorrLinks)
Email runs on TRULINCS, short for the Trust Fund Limited Inmate Computer System. The "limited" in the name is the point. A person composes and reads messages on a shared terminal in a housing unit. There is no web browser, no live internet, and no way to open a link or download a file. The system handles plain text only.[1][6]
Setting up contact takes a few steps on both ends. The person inside adds someone to a contact list, and staff review the request. CorrLinks then emails that contact and asks whether they want to accept messages or block them. Only after the outside person accepts can the two exchange anything. Outside contacts manage all of this at CorrLinks.com. Messages do not land in a normal email inbox. A family member logs into the CorrLinks site to read and write.[1][6]
Nothing moves instantly. Every message is held for staff review, so a note takes time to reach either side. The BOP charges the person inside by the minute for time spent in the messaging system, not the people writing to them. Community contacts pay nothing to use CorrLinks. As of the BOP's published guidance the inmate cost is five cents per minute of connected time.[1][6]
Tablets
Some federal facilities issue handheld tablets to people in custody. These are not consumer devices. A tablet runs a locked-down operating system with no camera and no open internet. It carries a fixed catalog of approved content, which can include e-books, music, games, educational material, and, on many units, a way to read and send TRULINCS messages away from the shared terminal.[1]
Tablets follow a pay-for-use model. The device itself is usually loaned at no cost, but the content on it is not free. People buy songs, books, games, and message time out of their commissary accounts. The rollout has not been uniform across the system, and access depends on the facility and a person's security level. The BOP positions the tablets as a tool for education and constructive time rather than a replacement for the phone and the email terminal.[1]
Costs and the Rate Cap
The price of a prison phone call has been a federal policy fight for years. For a long stretch, families paid high per-minute rates plus extra fees to fund and connect a call, and a large share of the money flowed back to the prison or jail as commissions. Reform efforts focused on capping the per-minute rate and stripping out the add-on charges.[7]
Congress changed the legal footing in early 2023 by enacting the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act of 2022. The law expanded the FCC's authority to regulate the rates for calls to and from people who are incarcerated, including the in-state calls the commission previously could not reach. The act is named for Martha Wright-Reed, a grandmother who spent years fighting the cost of calls from her incarcerated grandson.[7][8]
The FCC acted on that authority in July 2024. The commission adopted an order setting new caps on per-minute call rates, banning many ancillary fees, and prohibiting the commissions that had long flowed from telecom vendors to facilities. The caps varied by facility size. For prisons and large jails the order set a cap near six cents per minute for audio calls, with somewhat higher caps for smaller jails and separate caps for video calls.[8][9]
The 2024 order did not settle the matter. In 2025 the FCC revisited the rules. The commission postponed parts of the schedule and adopted higher interim rate caps along with a separate additive meant to cover facility costs of providing the service. The practical result is that the deep cuts described in 2024 were not the prices families ended up paying, and the exact caps continued to move through 2025. Anyone checking a current rate should treat the 2024 figures as a starting point that was later revised upward rather than a fixed schedule.[10][11]
Email and tablet content sit outside the FCC call-rate rules. The five-cent-per-minute TRULINCS charge and the prices for tablet songs, books, and games are set through the BOP's trust fund system and its vendors, not through the FCC order on calling services.[1]
Monitoring
Surveillance is built into every channel. Phone calls are recorded and can be reviewed at any time. The system plays a recorded notice on each call so both parties know it is monitored. Three-way calls and call forwarding are prohibited, and using them can cost a person their phone access.[3][2]
Email is screened before it moves. Trained staff read messages going each direction, which is the reason notes are delayed rather than instant. Content that violates the rules can be rejected, and the system flags certain material for closer review. Tablet messaging runs through the same TRULINCS monitoring.[1][6]
The line the system draws is around legal communication. Properly identified calls and mail with an attorney are treated as confidential. Those legal calls are not recorded, and they are not counted against the 300-minute monthly cap.[3]
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How many phone minutes do federal inmates get per month?
Under the Bureau of Prisons telephone regulations, a person with a phone account is limited to 300 minutes per calendar month. The bureau ordinarily allows an extra 100 minutes in November and December. A warden can approve additional minutes for good cause. Legal calls with an attorney are handled separately and do not count against the 300-minute limit.
Q: Can federal inmates use the internet or email?
Federal inmates do not have open internet access. They use a closed email system called TRULINCS, which families reach through the CorrLinks website. There is no web browsing, no links, and no attachments. Messages are plain text, are read by staff before delivery, and can only be exchanged with people on an approved contact list.
Q: How does CorrLinks email work?
The person inside adds a contact and staff approve the request. CorrLinks then emails that contact to ask whether they accept messages. Once accepted, the two can exchange plain-text notes. Outside contacts log in at CorrLinks.com to read and write. Messages are held for staff review, so they are delayed rather than instant. Inmates are charged by the minute for time in the system, and outside contacts pay nothing.
Q: What can federal inmate tablets do?
Tablets in federal facilities run a locked-down system with no camera and no open internet. They carry approved content such as e-books, music, games, and educational material, and on many units they let a person read and send TRULINCS messages. The device is usually loaned at no cost, but the content is bought out of a commissary account. Availability depends on the facility and security level.
Q: How much does a federal prison phone call cost?
The Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act, enacted in early 2023, expanded the FCC's authority to cap these rates. The FCC's July 2024 order set caps near six cents per minute for prisons and large jails, with higher caps for smaller jails. The FCC later revised the rules in 2025 and adopted higher interim caps, so current prices differ from the 2024 figures. Check the current rate with the facility rather than relying on a single published number.
Q: Are federal prison calls and emails recorded?
Yes, with one exception. Phone calls are recorded and announced as monitored, and email is read by trained staff before it moves in either direction. The exception is communication with an attorney. Properly identified legal calls are confidential, are not recorded, and do not count against a person's monthly phone minutes.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 "TRULINCS Topics". Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Privacy Impact Assessment for the TRUFONE Inmate Telephone System". Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 "Program Statement 5264.08, Inmate Telephone Regulations". Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Ninth Circuit Revives Challenge by Federal Prisoner in Arizona to BOP's 300-Minute Monthly Phone Cap". Prison Phone Justice. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
- ↑ "FBOP Updates to Phone Call Policies and Time Credit System". Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 "Program Statement 5265.13, Trust Fund Limited Inmate Computer System (TRULINCS) - Electronic Messaging". Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Incarcerated People's Communications Services". Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Incarcerated People's Communications Services; Implementation of the Martha Wright-Reed Act; Rates for Interstate Inmate Calling Services". Federal Register. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
- ↑ "FCC Approves Incarcerated People's Communications Services Reforms". Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
- ↑ "FCC postpones its groundbreaking 2024 rules, allowing excessive phone and video rates to continue". Prison Policy Initiative. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
- ↑ "FCC Revises Provisions in Incarcerated People's Communications Services Order". Correctional News. Retrieved June 3, 2026.