What calls actually cost
By The NearestKin Team, Family support and prison communications
"Why is a phone call from jail so expensive" is one of the most common things people search in this whole category, and the answer is structural rather than mysterious.
Here is how the pricing is built, and how to work out what a habit will actually cost you before you are three months into it.
We use the word “inmate” here because that is what people search for. Inside NearestKin, they are an Inside Community Member.
Why the price is what it is
Calls from a facility are not a competitive market. A single vendor typically holds an exclusive contract with a facility or a whole state system, and the person inside cannot choose a different provider. Neither can you.
Historically many contracts also paid a share of call revenue back to the facility, which gave the site an interest in a higher price rather than a lower one. Federal regulators have moved against that arrangement and capped per-minute rates, though the caps have been revised more than once and remain contested.
Work out the real number
Per-minute pricing makes small numbers feel smaller than they are. Do the arithmetic once, honestly, before you build a routine on it.
- Multiply the per-minute rate by 15 to price a typical call
- Multiply that by how often you genuinely expect to speak, per week
- Multiply by 52 — this is the number that matters
- Add any per-transaction fee charged when you top the account up. On small top-ups this can be a large share of what you pay.
Questions worth asking any provider
The rate on the homepage is rarely the whole cost.
- Is there a connection charge on top of the per-minute rate?
- What is the fee to add money, and does it scale with the amount?
- Does unused balance expire, and what happens to it on release or transfer?
- Is there a separate charge for a call that is not answered?
What NearestKin charges
An account for you is free. Messages are free to send and to receive. Calls are 7.5¢ a minute, and an Inside Community Member’s Voice Connection Hub is $14.95 a month.
Whether that is better than the phone in your person’s facility depends on which vendor holds that contract and what they charge, which varies widely. We would rather you did the comparison than took our word for it.
Common questions
- Why are jail phone calls so expensive?
- Because it is not a competitive market. One vendor typically holds an exclusive contract for a facility or an entire state system, and neither the person inside nor the person outside can choose an alternative. Some contracts historically returned a share of call revenue to the facility.
- How much does a 15 minute call from jail cost?
- Multiply the facility’s per-minute rate by fifteen, then add any connection charge and the fee you paid to put money on the account. The advertised per-minute rate is usually not the whole cost.
- Are phone calls from jail recorded?
- Generally yes. Calls from facilities are routinely recorded and may be monitored, with limited exceptions such as properly established legal calls. Assume a call is recorded unless you have been told otherwise.
Last reviewed .
The NearestKin Team · Family support and prison communications
We build the service families use to stay in touch with someone inside, and we write these guides from what people tell us they actually needed to know. Where something varies by state or by facility, we say so instead of guessing on your behalf.