How Inmate Phone Calls Work: Monitoring, What TRUFONE Collects, and Retention at Federal Facilities
If your loved one is in a federal facility, assume that regular phone calls are monitored and recorded. TRUFONE (the Bureau of Prisons phone system) collects specific data about calls and callers, and recordings are kept for a set period unless there's a reason to hold them longer.
In the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), phone calls are a privilege designed to help inmates stay connected to family and community contacts. That connection matters. But it happens inside a controlled system built around safety and orderly operations.
That control includes monitoring. The BOP posts a notice next to each telephone telling inmates their calls are monitored, so there's very little expectation of privacy on routine calls.
Note: Unmonitored calls to attorneys are permitted in certain circumstances. Regular family calls are a different category and should be treated as monitored.
Trufone Collects
- ✓ Telephone numbers associated with an inmate’s calling list
- ✓ The inmate’s TRUFONE account balance
TRUFONE collects biometric information for voice verification. The system uses this to confirm the caller is actually the inmate assigned to that phone line.
Call content gets captured too. TRUFONE stores inmate call recordings as part of the information it collects.
The BOP cites federal law as its authority to monitor and record inmate phone calls. Specifically, TRUFONE documentation references 18 U.S.C. 2510(5)(a)(ii) and 18 U.S.C. 2511(2)(c), which authorize monitoring and recording under Title III's "law enforcement" and "consent" provisions.
Recordings don't stay in the system forever by default. TRUFONE retains call recordings for up to 180 days, unless they're needed longer for legal or administrative purposes.
TRUFONE also supports live and remote monitoring of approved inmate calls. Monitoring isn't limited to reviewing recordings after the fact. It can happen in real time.
For families, the takeaway is straightforward: treat most routine inmate phone calls as monitored and recorded. The BOP posts notices by the phones telling inmates monitoring occurs, and TRUFONE stores call recordings as part of the system's collected information.
Note: Unmonitored attorney calls may be allowed in certain circumstances, and the BOP's monitoring of inmate calls is backed by federal legal authority. If something involves legal strategy or sensitive case details, save it for properly arranged attorney communications, not routine family calls.
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