Who Pays for Calls from Centralia and How to Recognize Them: Funding Options, Caller ID, and Electronic Messaging

Want to cover the cost of phone calls from Centralia Correctional Center on your end? You can set up an ICSolutions Friends & Family Prepaid account. You create the account, add money to it, and calls draw from that balance whenever your loved one calls you.

Calls can also be paid for from the inside. People incarcerated at Centralia can use money from their commissary (trust) account to purchase phone minutes through commissary. The difference comes down to who's funding the calls. With Friends & Family Prepaid, you're directly paying to receive calls. With commissary-purchased minutes, you add funds to your loved one's account, they buy minutes with those funds, and then place calls using the minutes they have available.

Phone calls aren't always the easiest option. If that's the case for you, there's also electronic messaging. Friends and family of people housed at Centralia can send electronic messages using ICSolutions' Corrlinks system (this applies across IDOC facilities, except ATCs). Messaging works well when you want to write on your own schedule, or when coordinating phone time is difficult.

Practical Tips

• ✓ Use ICSolutions Friends & Family Prepaid when you want to directly cover the cost of calls you receive and keep call funding separate from other support you provide.
• ✓ Use commissary/trust-account funding when you want your loved one to purchase their own phone minutes through commissary using funds in their account.
• ✓ If you are unsure which is best, ask your loved one what’s working for them right now. Some people prefer the flexibility of prepaid, others prefer buying minutes through commissary.