How to make prison calls more affordable

The financial burden of staying in touch with an incarcerated loved one is a challenge that thousands of families across the UK face daily. With prison phone calls costing significantly more than standard rates, many families find themselves having to choose between financial stability and maintaining crucial connections. This comprehensive guide explores practical solutions for making prison calls more affordable in 2025, with a focus on innovative services that can dramatically reduce costs while keeping families connected during difficult separations.

Understanding The Cost Crisis of Prison Calls

The UK prison phone system operates on a significantly different pricing structure than regular telecommunications networks, creating financial barriers that many families struggle to overcome. Understanding these costs is the first step toward finding effective solutions.

Prison Call Pricing Structure
Prison phone calls in the UK continue to be charged at rates substantially higher than standard telephone services. In 2025, inmates typically pay between 4p and 9p per minute to call landlines, while calls to mobile phones range from 13p to 20p per minute. These rates might not seem excessive at first glance, but they quickly accumulate for families trying to maintain regular communication.

A 15-minute call to a mobile phone—now the primary communication device for most UK households—can cost between £1.95 and £3.00. For a prisoner making just three calls per week, this represents a monthly expense of £23-£36, a significant sum when many inmates rely on limited financial support from families already facing economic hardship.

The pricing disparity between calls to landlines versus mobile phones creates a particular challenge. While calls to landlines are significantly cheaper, the Office of Communications (Ofcom) reports that over 85% of UK households now rely primarily on mobile phones, with many homes no longer maintaining traditional landline services. This technological shift means most families are forced to accept calls at the higher mobile rates unless they find alternative solutions.

Financial Impact On Families
The cost of prison calls disproportionately affects those already facing financial hardship due to incarceration. When a family member enters prison, households often experience a significant reduction in income, particularly if the incarcerated individual was previously a financial contributor. Simultaneously, the remaining family members frequently face increased expenses and responsibilities.

Beyond phone costs, families typically need to budget for in-person visits that involve transportation expenses, time off work, and sometimes accommodation for visits to distant facilities. Many also send regular money transfers to fund their loved one's prison account for essential items and services within the institution. These combined financial pressures create a situation where regular phone communication becomes a luxury rather than the essential connection it should be.

The emotional cost of limited communication is equally significant. Research from the Prison Reform Trust indicates that maintained family connections significantly reduce reoffending rates and improve post-release outcomes. When financial barriers restrict these vital communications, both the incarcerated individual and their family suffer, creating additional challenges for eventual reintegration into family and society.

Why Prison Call Is a Cost Effective Solution?

Services like Prison Call offer an innovative solution to the high cost of prison communication through virtual landline technology. This approach addresses the core pricing issue while providing flexibility for modern communication needs.

How Virtual Landlines Work
Virtual landline services provide a standard UK landline number that forwards calls to your mobile phone. When your incarcerated loved one calls this landline number, they pay the lower landline rate (4-9p per minute) rather than the higher mobile rate (13-20p per minute). The call is then automatically redirected to your mobile phone, allowing you to receive calls anywhere without being tied to a physical location.

This simple but effective system creates immediate cost savings, often reducing call expenses by 50-60% without requiring any changes to the prison's phone system. The landline number functions exactly like a traditional fixed line from the prison's perspective, using established telecommunications infrastructure without requiring special arrangements or permissions.

Virtual landlines also offer geographic flexibility that traditional landlines cannot match. You can select a number with an area code local to the prison facility, potentially qualifying for local call rates where applicable, regardless of where you actually live or work. This feature is particularly valuable for families who live far from the prison where their loved one is held.

Setting Up And Using A Virtual Landline
Establishing a virtual landline through services like Prison Call involves a straightforward process that typically takes less than 24 hours to complete. You begin by selecting a service package based on your anticipated call volume and communication needs. Most providers offer tiered options with different monthly minute allowances to accommodate various budgets.

After choosing a plan, you select a geographic landline number, ideally with an area code matching or close to the prison location to maximize any local calling benefits. You then provide your mobile number for call forwarding, which can be any UK mobile phone where you wish to receive calls.

Once your virtual number is active, you share it with your incarcerated loved one, who must add it to their approved contact list through the standard prison procedures. After the prison processes this addition—typically within a few days to two weeks—your loved one can begin calling the landline number at the lower rate while you receive calls on your mobile as normal.

The beauty of this system lies in its simplicity. There's no special hardware to install, no complex technical knowledge required, and no changes needed to how your loved one makes calls from prison. The only difference is the substantial reduction in the cost per minute, allowing for longer or more frequent conversations within the same budget.

Standard Calling vs. Virtual Landlines
To understand the real-world impact of virtual landline services, consider a practical comparison of costs based on typical prison call patterns. For a prisoner making three 15-minute calls per week to stay in touch with family, the monthly cost comparison reveals significant differences:

Calling a mobile phone directly at 15p per minute:
15 minutes × 3 calls × 4 weeks × £0.15 = £27.00 per month

Calling a virtual landline at 6p per minute (forwarded to mobile):
15 minutes × 3 calls × 4 weeks × £0.06 = £10.80 per month

This represents a monthly saving of £16.20, or approximately 60% of the original cost. Over a year, this amounts to nearly £200 in savings—money that can be redirected to other essential needs or used to fund additional communication.

While virtual landline services do carry a monthly subscription fee (typically £5-10 per month depending on the package), the net savings remain substantial for most families maintaining regular contact. Even accounting for this subscription cost, most users find their overall communication expenses reduced by 40-50%.

Maximizing Prison Phone Credit

Beyond using virtual landlines, several practical strategies can help extend the value of prison phone credit, making every pound go further.

Understanding The Prison Phone Credit System
Inmates in UK prisons must purchase phone credit through the prison canteen system, typically using money sent by family members or earned through prison work. This credit is added to their personal PIN account and depleted as calls are made, with rates varying by destination number.

Credit is usually purchased in fixed increments, and many prisons impose maximum limits on how much credit a prisoner can hold at once. Understanding these limitations helps in planning effective communication strategies that work within the system's constraints.

Most prison phone systems provide automated announcements of the remaining credit at the beginning of each call, allowing both parties to monitor usage. Some systems also offer warnings when credit is running low during a call, though this feature isn't universal across all UK prisons.

Strategic Timing of Calls
Being strategic about when calls take place can significantly extend phone credit. Many prisons offer slightly reduced rates during off-peak hours, typically late evening or early morning. While these discounts are modest—usually 10-15% lower than standard rates—they add up over time, especially for families maintaining frequent contact.

Planning calls around these rate variations requires coordination but can provide meaningful savings. Some families create schedules that prioritize longer, more in-depth conversations during discount periods while keeping necessary but brief check-ins during standard-rate times.

The timing of credit purchases can also impact overall value. Many prisoners find that phone credit purchases process more quickly at certain times of the week, reducing the delay between family members sending money and credit becoming available for calls. Understanding these patterns helps ensure credit is available when needed for important calls.

Effective Call Management Techniques
How calls are structured can dramatically affect credit utilization. Developing call routines that balance emotional needs with practical constraints helps make communication both meaningful and affordable.

Brief daily calls for essential updates combined with longer weekly conversations for deeper connection often prove more satisfying than sporadic, unplanned communications. This approach provides regular contact while concentrating more extensive conversations when both parties can prepare and focus.

Preparing conversation topics in advance reduces time spent on call deciding what to discuss. Many families keep ongoing lists of important updates or questions, ensuring that precious minutes aren't wasted trying to remember what needs to be shared.

Establishing clear endings to conversations helps avoid the common pattern of extending calls "just one more minute," which can quickly deplete available credit. Some families use specific phrases or routines to signal the approaching end of a call, making disconnection less abrupt and emotionally difficult.

Alternative Ways To Communicate

While phone calls provide immediate voice connection, supplementing with other communication methods creates a more comprehensive and potentially more affordable connection strategy.

Letters & Cards
Traditional mail remains one of the most cost-effective ways to maintain detailed communication with incarcerated loved ones. Standard letters cost just the price of a stamp, with no time limits or per-minute charges limiting expression. This medium allows for thoughtful, in-depth communication that phone calls, with their time constraints and lack of privacy, sometimes cannot provide.

Letters offer permanence that phone conversations lack—they can be read repeatedly during difficult moments and kept as tangible reminders of connection and support. They also provide a medium for sharing photographs, children's drawings, newspaper clippings, and other physical items that create meaningful connections.

Many families establish parallel communication through both calls and letters, using each medium for its strengths. Phone calls provide immediate voice contact and emotional reassurance, while letters allow for more detailed updates, personal reflections, and documentation of family events and milestones.

Digital Options
The UK prison system has gradually introduced digital communication options in some facilities, though availability varies significantly between institutions. Where available, these services can provide cost-effective alternatives or supplements to traditional phone calls.

The Email a Prisoner service allows family members to send electronic messages for a fee significantly lower than a typical phone call. Messages are printed at the receiving prison and delivered to inmates, typically within 24 hours. While this service doesn't provide immediate interaction, it offers faster delivery than traditional mail at a fraction of the cost of phone communication.

Some prisons have implemented voicemail systems where family members can leave messages for a small fee, which the prisoner can then access during their normal phone time. This option provides flexibility for families with unpredictable schedules and addresses the challenge of missed calls when prisoners cannot access phones at specific times.

Video visitation options, expanded during COVID-19 restrictions, remain available in many facilities through platforms like Purple Visits. While these sessions typically carry a fee, they provide visual connection without the travel costs associated with in-person visits, potentially offering better value than phone calls alone for maintaining meaningful connections, particularly with children.

Support Networks
Utilizing support networks can help distribute the financial burden of staying connected. When appropriate and with the prisoner's consent, coordinating communication efforts among extended family members and close friends allows for more regular contact without any single person bearing the entire cost.

Some families establish communication schedules where different relatives take responsibility for calls on specific days, ensuring regular contact while sharing expenses. Others pool resources to fund phone credit or virtual landline subscriptions, recognizing the benefit to everyone involved in maintaining the connection.

Community support organizations sometimes offer assistance with prison communication costs through hardship funds or practical support. Organizations like PACT (Prison Advice and Care Trust) and Families Outside can sometimes provide guidance on accessing financial support for maintaining family connections during incarceration.

Prison Call Packages

Services like Prison Call typically offer various package options designed to meet different communication needs and budgets. Understanding these options helps families select the most cost-effective solution for their specific situation.

Choosing The Right Package
Most virtual landline providers structure their offerings in tiered packages based on anticipated call volume. Entry-level packages might offer a basic service with a limited number of included minutes at a lower monthly fee, suitable for families maintaining less frequent contact or those with very limited budgets.

Mid-range packages typically represent the best value for most users, offering a balance between monthly cost and included minutes that accommodates regular weekly communication. Premium packages provide higher minute allowances for families maintaining very frequent contact, often at a lower per-minute rate than lower-tier options.

When selecting a package, consider not just current communication patterns but potential future needs. Many families find that as they overcome the initial financial barrier to regular communication, they naturally increase call frequency as the relationship strengthens, potentially making higher-tier packages more economical in the long run.

Features To Consider
Beyond basic call forwarding, some virtual landline services offer additional features that can enhance the communication experience or provide further cost savings. Voicemail capabilities allow messages to be left when you're unavailable to answer a call—a valuable feature given the limited and sometimes unpredictable nature of prison phone access.

Call recording features, where legally permitted and with appropriate notification, can allow important conversations about legal matters or family decisions to be preserved for reference. Some services offer online account management portals that provide detailed call history information, helping with budgeting and planning future communication.

Multiple number forwarding allows calls to be directed to different mobile phones based on availability or scheduling, particularly useful for co-parenting situations where both parents need to maintain regular contact with an incarcerated loved one.

Selecting The Right Package For Your Needs
Choosing the most appropriate service package requires realistic assessment of communication patterns and budget constraints. Start by tracking actual or anticipated call frequency and duration over a typical month, including both regular check-ins and longer conversations for special occasions.

Compare this usage pattern against available packages, looking for options where included minutes closely match your needs without significant over or under-provision. Consider whether call patterns are likely to change over time, particularly if the sentence is long or if children are involved, as their communication needs evolve with age.

Review cancellation policies and contract terms before committing, ensuring flexibility if circumstances change. Many providers offer month-to-month services without long-term commitments, providing valuable flexibility for families navigating the uncertainties of the prison system.

The Value Of Communication

While cost considerations are important, the true value of affordable prison communication extends far beyond financial calculations. The emotional and rehabilitative benefits create impacts that influence both immediate wellbeing and long-term outcomes for all involved.

Maintaing A Family Bond
Regular communication helps preserve family relationships that might otherwise deteriorate during incarceration. For couples, continued conversation maintains emotional intimacy and shared understanding despite physical separation. Regular updates about daily life, challenges, and accomplishments help keep both parties involved in each other's lives rather than growing apart through isolation.

For children with incarcerated parents, consistent communication provides essential reassurance of continued love and interest. Research consistently shows that children who maintain appropriate contact with incarcerated parents demonstrate better emotional adjustment, fewer behavioral problems, and greater resilience than those who lose connection.

Extended family relationships benefit similarly from maintained communication, preventing the gradual estrangement that often occurs during long sentences. These preserved connections create a more robust support network for eventual reintegration, providing practical and emotional resources during the challenging transition back to community life.

Mental Health & Well Being
The psychological impact of affordable, reliable communication cannot be overstated. For the incarcerated individual, regular contact with loved ones provides emotional anchoring and motivation during a period often characterized by isolation and institutional routine. This connection to the outside world helps maintain perspective and hope, protecting against the deterioration of mental health that frequently accompanies prolonged separation from support networks.

Family members outside similarly benefit from regular communication, experiencing reduced anxiety about their loved one's wellbeing and circumstances. The uncertainty and worry that often plague families of prisoners can be significantly alleviated through consistent updates and emotional connection, allowing them to better manage their own wellbeing while supporting their incarcerated loved one.

For both parties, affordable communication creates space for processing grief, adapting to changed circumstances, and gradually developing new patterns of relationship that accommodate the reality of incarceration while preserving essential emotional bonds.

Impact On Rehabilitation
The link between maintained family connections and successful rehabilitation is well-established in criminological research. Studies consistently show that prisoners who maintain strong family relationships throughout their sentence are significantly less likely to reoffend after release, with some research suggesting reductions in recidivism of up to 40%.

This dramatic impact stems from several factors. Maintained relationships provide practical support for reintegration, including potential housing, employment connections, and financial stability during the transition period. They also create accountability and motivation for continued rehabilitation, as preserved family bonds represent something valuable that returning offenders are unwilling to risk through further criminal behavior.

Perhaps most importantly, continued connection prevents the social isolation and community detachment that often contribute to reoffending. When prisoners maintain their identity as family members—parents, partners, sons, daughters—throughout their sentence, they retain crucial aspects of pro-social identity that support law-abiding behavior upon release.

Navigating Prison Communication Policies

Understanding the specific communication policies of your loved one's facility helps maximize the effectiveness of cost-saving strategies while avoiding potential complications.

Specific Prison Regulations
While the UK prison system operates under national guidelines, individual facilities often have specific policies regarding phone access, approved contact lists, and communication restrictions. These variations can significantly impact how cost-saving strategies are implemented and their effectiveness in your specific situation.

Some prisons offer more generous phone access than others, with variations in available hours, call duration limits, and the ratio of phones to prisoners. Higher-security facilities typically impose stricter limitations than lower-security establishments, reflecting different risk assessments and operational priorities.

The process for adding and changing numbers on approved contact lists also varies between institutions. Some facilities process additions quickly, while others involve lengthy administrative delays that must be factored into communication planning. Understanding these procedural differences helps set realistic expectations and avoid frustration when implementing new communication arrangements.

Policy Changes
Prison communication policies continue to evolve as technology advances and administrative approaches shift. Staying informed about these changes helps families adapt strategies to maintain optimal affordability and access.

The gradual introduction of in-cell telephones across the UK prison estate represents one significant ongoing change, dramatically improving access for prisoners in equipped facilities. As this technology becomes more widespread, the dynamics of prison communication are shifting from strictly limited access windows to more flexible arrangements that better accommodate family schedules.

Digital communication options continue to expand in many facilities, creating new possibilities for cost-effective contact. Monitoring announcements from the prison service and maintaining communication with prison family liaison officers helps ensure awareness of new options as they become available.

Policy changes regarding call rates and phone credit systems occasionally occur, sometimes improving affordability through rate reductions or enhanced access. Staying alert to these changes allows families to take full advantage of any improvements while adapting to any new restrictions.

Working With Prison Staff Effectively
Developing positive working relationships with relevant prison staff can significantly improve the communication experience while helping navigate cost-related challenges. Family liaison officers, where available, provide valuable guidance on communication options and can sometimes help resolve issues with phone access or approved numbers.

When implementing solutions like virtual landlines, clear communication with prison staff ensures understanding that these services operate within approved guidelines, preventing potential misunderstandings about call forwarding technologies. While staff generally have no objection to legitimate cost-saving measures, transparency helps avoid complications.If financial hardship creates significant barriers to maintaining contact, some prisons offer support programs or can connect families with external organizations providing assistance. Prison chaplaincy services and family support workers often have information about available resources that might not be widely advertised.

The financial challenges of prison communication need not become insurmountable barriers to maintaining vital connections. Through strategic use of services like Prison Call's virtual landlines, thoughtful communication planning, and supplementary contact methods, families can establish sustainable communication patterns that support relationships throughout periods of incarceration.

The investment in affordable communication solutions pays dividends far beyond the immediate emotional benefit of regular contact. Maintained connections support better mental health outcomes for all involved, improve prospects for successful rehabilitation, and preserve family bonds that provide essential stability during and after incarceration.

Each family's communication needs and financial circumstances are unique, requiring personalized approaches to finding the most effective and affordable solutions. By combining the strategies outlined in this guide with awareness of specific prison policies and family dynamics, truly sustainable communication becomes achievable even within the constraints of the prison system.

For families seeking to reduce the cost of prison calls, services like Prison Call offer an immediate and significant impact without requiring complex technical knowledge or changes to how the prison system operates. This simple intervention—providing a virtual landline number that forwards to a mobile phone—can transform prison communication from a financial burden into a sustainable connection that supports both emotional wellbeing and practical rehabilitation goals.

To learn more about how virtual landline services can reduce your prison call costs by up to 60%, contact Prison Call today. Our team understands the unique challenges facing families with incarcerated loved ones and is committed to providing affordable, reliable communication solutions that keep important connections intact during difficult separations.