Receiving Calls from an Inmate and Protecting Attorney Calls: Phone Guide for San Diego County Jails (including EMRF)
Missing calls from someone in a San Diego County jail? The number might look unfamiliar, and your phone could be treating it as spam. Here's how these calls show up, how to make sure they get through, and how attorneys can protect confidential conversations.
Calls from San Diego County detention facilities often come through as 727-349-1561. This started after a recent change in the jail's phone system provider.
Since so many jail calls now come from the same number, some mobile carriers flag 727-349-1561 as spam. The result: calls from incarcerated people get filtered out before you ever see them.
Ensure Receipt
- ✓ Save and program 727-349-1561 into your phone as a contact.
- ✓ Check whether your phone or carrier is sending 727-349-1561 to spam filtering.
- ✓ If you see spam warnings for 727-349-1561, treat it as a likely jail call and adjust your spam settings so it is not filtered out.
If you've saved 727-349-1561 and calls still aren't coming through, contact your phone provider and ask them to unblock the number. This is the fix when carrier-level spam filters are blocking the calls.
Phone calls from San Diego County Sheriff's Office jails have been free since July 1, 2021. If you're used to older systems that required prepaid accounts or charged high per-minute rates, this policy change is easy to miss.
The free-calls policy covers local, long distance, and international calls.
Each call is limited to 15 minutes. This gives everyone equal access to the phones, so expect calls to end around that mark even if the conversation is going well.
There's no limit on how many calls someone can make per day. That said, the 15-minute cap shapes how conversations happen. Planning for shorter check-ins often works better than trying to cover everything in one call.
By default, all phone calls made by incarcerated individuals are recorded. The exception: calls to numbers verified by the Detention Investigations Unit (DIU) as belonging to an attorney (or certain other protected roles) and entered into the "Do Not Record" database.
- Use a number you want protected - attorney calls are recorded unless the number has been verified and placed into the "Do Not Record" database.
- Contact the Detention Investigations Unit (DIU) - DIU verifies numbers for the Do Not Record database. DIU can be reached at (858) 285-2051.
- Confirm the number is verified and entered - once DIU verifies the number and it is entered into the Do Not Record database, calls to that verified number are the exception to the recording rule.
Quick Action Checklist
- ✓ If a jail call shows up as 727-349-1561, it is likely coming through that single number due to a provider change.
- ✓ If your phone labels 727-349-1561 as spam, adjust your spam settings and save the number so the call is not filtered out.
- ✓ If calls still do not come through, contact your phone provider to unblock 727-349-1561.
- ✓ Remember: calls from San Diego County Sheriff's Office jails have been free since July 1, 2021.
- ✓ Expect a 15-minute limit per call.
- ✓ Attorneys who need non-recorded calls should have their number verified for the "Do Not Record" database through DIU at (858) 285-2051.
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