Phone Calls and Video Visits at Upshur County Jail: What the NCIC Contract Means for Families

NCIC provides the inmate telephone system at Upshur County Jail under a five-year contract that started November 30, 2016. This isn't a casual month-to-month arrangement - the phone service your loved one uses is locked into a formal vendor agreement.

That original deal didn't stay static. The county extended the NCIC contract through an addendum dated August 14, 2020, then expanded services again on May 28, 2021. That 2021 addendum added mail scanning - worth knowing, since staying in touch may involve more than calls and video.

Under the contract, NCIC handles everything: a fully operational phone system (local and long-distance), plus video visitation and messaging. The agreement says NCIC provides all of this at no cost to the county - equipment, installation, and repairs included. So if you hit a snag with video visits or messaging, you're dealing with a vendor-supplied service, not something the jail buys and maintains on its own.

The financial arrangement is simple on paper: Upshur County gets a guaranteed minimum of $73,000 per year from NCIC. That payment kicks in upon activation and repeats at the end of each contract year.

Beyond the minimum, the county also gets a cut of additional revenue. Specifically, Upshur County receives 60% of gross revenue above the $73,000 threshold.

There's another piece to the financial picture in the jail's commissary accounting: the commissary books a 25% profit on phone minutes and video visitation minutes. When someone buys minutes, the records reflect that margin. For context, the same accounting shows a profit of $9.70 per e-cigarette sale. That's unrelated to phone or video service, but it's part of the broader "inmate purchases" picture in commissary records.

What does this mean day-to-day? NCIC runs the show. They provide the phone system and the video visitation/messaging platform - equipment, installation, repairs, all of it. The jail may set its own rules about access and usage, but the service itself runs on NCIC's contracted systems.

• ✓ Confirm current rates and fees directly through the NCIC phone/video system you’re instructed to use (don’t rely on old screenshots or third-party posts).
• ✓ Ask how charges are calculated for phone minutes and video visitation minutes, since the county’s revenue arrangement is tied to overall gross revenue and recorded profit on minutes.
• ✓ Check what payment options are available for funding calls, video visits, or messaging, and keep your receipts or confirmation numbers.
• ✓ If costs look different than you expected, focus your questions on the vendor’s billing side first - this contract structure is designed around vendor-provided services and revenue sharing.