What Gets Recorded When Someone Calls an Inmate at Dillwyn (and How Attorney Calls Work)

At Dillwyn - like all VADOC facilities - inmate phone calls are recorded and monitored as standard practice. The exception? Properly verified attorney calls. Those get treated differently so legal communication can happen without routine surveillance. If a call isn't set up as a verified attorney call, assume it can be recorded and listened to.

There's also a time limit: calls max out at 20 minutes. That can make it tough to cover complicated topics, so plan what you need to say before the call connects.

The phone system runs through ConnectNetwork by Global Tel*Link (GTL). If you see that name on billing or hear it in automated prompts, that's the system VADOC uses for inmate calling.

An "attorney call" isn't just any conversation where legal topics come up. It's a call that qualifies under VADOC's rules as a properly verified attorney call - that's the category excluded from routine recording and monitoring. If the call isn't set up and verified as an attorney call, it falls under the normal "recorded and monitored" rule.

A "recording block" is what protects attorney calls. It's an electronic block that prevents monitoring and recording - but only for calls made to a verified attorney phone number. It's not automatic: the inmate has to request the recording block in advance so the system knows to handle calls to that number differently.

VADOC also allows attorney calls through an administrative telephone system. Under VADOC Operating Procedure 803.3, inmates can use this system to place or receive calls to their attorney following the applicable legal access procedure.

Even with these legal access options, the key detail stays the same: protections depend on the call being tied to a verified attorney number with the recording block requested ahead of time. Skip those steps, and you can't count on the call being treated as an unmonitored attorney call.

For families, the safest approach is simple: talk as if the call is being recorded - because at Dillwyn, it usually is. Unless the call is a properly verified attorney call with the right protections in place, it can be monitored and recorded. Avoid discussing sensitive legal strategy, detailed case facts, or anything you wouldn't want repeated. If something needs to go to the lawyer, route it through the attorney and let them communicate with your loved one using the verified attorney process.

1. Use the attorney’s correct phone number - the recording block only applies to a verified attorney telephone number, not a general office line that hasn’t been verified.
2. Have the inmate request the recording block ahead of time - the block must be requested in advance; it’s not something that automatically happens just because the person being called is a lawyer.
3. Make sure the block is tied to that verified number - the protection is number-specific, so the call has to go to the verified attorney number for the block to apply.
4. Don’t assume a call is private until it’s set up correctly - if the number isn’t verified or the block wasn’t requested in advance, treat the call like a normal recorded/monitored call.

Use regular inmate calls for family updates and day-to-day support. Save anything that could affect a case for attorney communication. VADOC's baseline rule is that inmate calls are recorded and monitored - the exception depends entirely on properly verified attorney calls. If you need to pass along time-sensitive or sensitive legal information, the cleanest path is getting it to the attorney and letting them handle communication through the approved legal-call process, including administrative telephone access when appropriate.