What Happens When You Receive a Call From Elkhart County Jail (and how voicemail works)

When an inmate calls you from Elkhart County Jail, you won't hear their voice right away. First comes a recorded message letting you know the call is from the jail. Then you choose: accept the call and talk, or refuse and hang up.

All calls from Elkhart County Jail are monitored and recorded. This isn't selective - it applies to every inmate phone call.

Both the inmate and the person on the other end are told the call originates from a jail and may be monitored. That means there's no expectation of privacy. Anything said can be used in an investigation, so treat every conversation as if it could be reviewed later.

Here's something that trips people up: inmates at Elkhart County Jail can't receive incoming calls. You can't dial the jail and get connected to them for a live conversation.

Voicemail is the workaround. You can't call an inmate directly, but they can access voicemail to hear messages you've left. Communication might be one-way at times - you leave a message, they listen when they can, then call you back when they're able to place an outgoing call.

Practical Tips

• ✓ Listen to the recorded message and decide right then whether you want to accept or refuse the call.
• ✓ Use the “never receive calls again” option if you don’t want future calls from that inmate.
• ✓ Assume the call is monitored/recorded and avoid sharing sensitive information.