Setting Up Phone Calls from Southside Regional Jail: debit vs. collect

At Southside Regional Jail, one option for phone calls is the debit system. With debit calling, the cost of the call comes out of the funds on the inmate’s account, so the person inside is using their available balance to place the call.

Collect calling flips this around. You - the person receiving the call - handle payment instead. But there's a catch: Southside Regional Jail requires you to set up a payment plan before any collect calls will go through.

If you want to receive collect calls, you’ll need to set up that payment plan first. Southside Regional Jail allows family and friends to do this either by phone at (800) 483-8314 or through the ConnectNetwork portal.

The ConnectNetwork portal is also where you can add money online to support phone access in a different way. Southside Regional Jail lists it as an option for depositing funds to an inmate’s commissary account or to a pre-paid phone account.

One more thing to plan around: each inmate is limited to 10 phone numbers on their approved phone list. If you’re trying to help multiple family members stay in touch, you’ll want to be intentional about which numbers get used.

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• ✓ Decide whether calls should be paid from the inmate’s funds (debit calling) or by the person receiving the call (collect with a payment plan).
• ✓ If you’re going the debit route, add funds online through the ConnectNetwork portal so there’s money available on the inmate’s account for calls.
• ✓ If you’re going the collect route, set up the required payment plan either through the ConnectNetwork portal or by calling (800) 483-8314.

If you’re trying to keep things simple and predictable, debit calling can be a good fit because the inmate is placing calls using the funds on their account. Collect calls can make more sense when you want the receiving side to handle payment - just remember that Southside Regional Jail requires the receiving party to set up a payment plan before collect calls will work.