Setting Up Your Loved One’s Phone List: Understanding the 30‑Number Limit and Phone Restrictions

In the Bureau of Prisons, your loved one's official telephone list can hold up to 30 numbers. Calls are only expected to go to people and numbers on that approved list, so choosing which numbers to include matters.

The phone list starts early. During admission and orientation, an inmate who wants telephone privileges has to prepare a proposed telephone list. That's the moment they're deciding who they plan to call. It's a lot easier if you've already talked through the best number to use for you and other close family members before they go in.

The limit is normally 30 numbers, but exceptions exist. The Associate Warden can authorize additional numbers based on an inmate's individual situation (for example, the size of their family). If your loved one genuinely needs more than 30, extra numbers are possible. They're just not automatic.

All personal calls go through the Bureau's Inmate Telephone System (ITS). Your loved one is not allowed to work around the system using call forwarding, automatic electronic forwarding, or similar phone functions. The Bureau also prohibits third-party or other alternative call arrangements. Anything that tries to disguise who is really being called, or who is really receiving the call, can create serious trouble. If you want fewer headaches, keep things simple: use a direct, normal phone number and skip any add-ons that reroute calls.

• ✓ Toll-free numbers (1-800)
• ✓ Toll-free numbers (1-888)
• ✓ Toll-free numbers (1-877)
• ✓ Toll-free numbers (1-866)
• ✓ 1-900 numbers
• ✓ 1-976 numbers
• ✓ Credit card access numbers

Assume calls are monitored. A notice is posted next to each inmate telephone letting inmates know that calls are being monitored. Institutions also set their own monitoring procedures and can impose reasonable limits to support security and orderly management, including limits on call length (the maximum is ordinarily 15 minutes). If a call cuts off, it's not always a technical glitch. Sometimes the facility's time limit is doing exactly what it's designed to do.

5

• ✓ Plan around the 30-number cap, prioritize the most reliable ways to reach you, since an inmate’s official telephone list ordinarily may contain up to 30 numbers.
• ✓ Talk about phone numbers early, because during admission and orientation, an inmate who chooses telephone privileges must prepare a proposed telephone list.
• ✓ Keep your number “plain,” since inmates must place all personal calls through the ITS and must not circumvent it through call forwarding or similar functions.

1. If 30 numbers is not enough, ask about an exception - the Associate Warden may authorize additional numbers based on the inmate’s individual situation (for example, size of family).
2. If private legal calls are needed, request the attorney-call option - unmonitored calls to attorneys are permitted in certain circumstances, so it is worth asking what steps are required in your loved one’s situation.