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HMP Birmingham also known as Winson Green, is one of the largest prisons in the West Midlands. This guide covers everything families need to know about staying in touch by phone: how the in-cell system works, the confirmed call hours, how to get on the PIN list, what calls cost in 2026, how to cut that cost by over 55%, how to send money, and how to book a visit.
When a loved one arrives at HMP Birmingham, getting phone contact set up is usually the most urgent priority. The good news is that Birmingham has in-cell phones, which gives considerably more flexibility than older prisons where prisoners queue for shared communal handsets. The less good news is that the per-minute cost of calling a mobile number is high, and for many families the credit runs out far faster than expected. This guide explains exactly why that happens and what you can do about it from day one.
HMP Birmingham is a Category B men's prison located in the Winson Green area of Birmingham, approximately two miles north-west of the city centre. The prison has a long history it opened in 1849 as a county gaol and has a current capacity of around 1,000 prisoners across 11 wings. The wings include a dedicated older prisoners unit, a drug recovery unit, and a first night centre for newly arrived prisoners.The prison was run by private security company G4S from 2011 until 2018, when a particularly troubled period led to HMPPS taking back direct control. It is now operated as a public prison by His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service. Birmingham serves the local courts including Birmingham Crown Court and Magistrates Courts across the West Midlands and surrounding areas, which means it holds a mix of remand and sentenced prisoners. Remand prisoners who have not yet been sentenced generally have slightly more flexibility around phone access than sentenced prisoners, though both groups use the same in-cell system.
Facilities at the prison include a library, gym, and a broad range of vocational training provided by education provider Novus, covering bricklaying, plumbing, painting and decorating, carpentry, forklift truck driving, industrial cleaning, catering, IT, and creative arts. There is an active resettlement unit that supports prisoners with housing, benefits, and employment issues ahead of release, staffed by advisors from Job Centre Plus and Citizens Advice.
HMP Birmingham has in-cell phones installed in every cell. The official GOV.UK page for the prison confirms that prisoners can make calls every day between 7am and 11pm. This is a considerably wider window than older prisons where communal phones on the wing are only accessible during association periods, which are typically just two or three hours spread across the day. At HMP Birmingham, a prisoner can call you after 7am in the morning or at 10pm in the evening if that suits both of you a genuine practical advantage for families with busy or irregular schedules.
Every prisoner at HMP Birmingham is given a personal PIN number linked to their individual phone account. Before making any call, they enter their PIN on the handset. The system checks whether the number they are dialling is on their pre-approved contact list. If it is, the call connects and the cost is deducted from their credit balance. If the number is not on the approved list, the call will not go through.
All calls made through a prisoner's personal PIN account, except those to solicitors and legal representatives on a separate legal phone account, are recorded and may be monitored by prison staff. This applies to every social call regardless of what is being discussed. Both parties are notified at the start of the call. There is no way to opt out.
You cannot call a prisoner at HMP Birmingham. There is no mechanism to dial through to a cell or wing, and the phones inside the prison do not accept incoming calls. All calls are outgoing only, always initiated by the prisoner. If you have an urgent welfare concern, call the Safer Custody helpline on 0121 598 8364 rather than the main switchboard.
Before your loved one can call you, your number needs to be on their approved contact list. The GOV.UK page for HMP Birmingham confirms that the list is checked by security staff when a prisoner first arrives and that it may take a few days before they are able to call. In practice, the process involves your loved one submitting your number for approval, after which security staff carry out checks before activating it.
Each prisoner can hold up to 20 approved numbers on their personal PIN list. Legal contacts solicitors and legal representatives are held on a separate legal account and do not count towards the 20-number limit. If you change your phone number at any point, your loved one will need to go through the submission process again for the new number.
Rather than giving your loved one your mobile number, give them a virtual landline number from Prison Call to add to the list instead. From the first approved call, they pay the cheaper landline rate automatically. You receive every call on your mobile as normal, no app needed.
All calls from HMP Birmingham are charged to the prisoner's phone credit account, not to you as the recipient. Phone credit is purchased through the prison canteen system, funded from the prisoner's private cash balance. This balance is topped up by money sent in from family using the GOV.UK payment service, plus wages earned from prison work.
Call rates at HMP Birmingham follow the national HMPPS tariff that has been in place since 1 April 2025, following a 20% reduction negotiated by the Ministry of Justice. These rates are confirmed and fixed until 31 May 2027.
A 20-minute weekday call to a mobile costs £1.10 in phone credit. If your loved one calls every weekday for 20 minutes, that is around £22 per month from weekday calls alone a significant proportion of a typical prison wage of around £10 per week. This is why many families find themselves needing to send money in regularly just to keep the calls going.
The mobile rate of 5.50p per minute is more than double the landline rate of 2.48p per minute. The reason is structural: mobile numbers sit in a more expensive billing tier within the HMPPS contract than standard UK geographic landline numbers. Because most families no longer have a traditional home landline, most prisoners end up calling mobile numbers by default and paying the higher rate every time.
A virtual landline changes this. It is a standard UK local number for example a 0121 Birmingham number matching your area that forwards calls directly to your mobile. Your loved one adds it to their PIN list and calls it instead of your mobile. The prison phone system charges them the landline rate. You answer on your mobile exactly as normal. No app, no special equipment, nothing changes for you.
On a daily 20-minute weekday call, switching to a Prison Call virtual landline saves 61p per call — over £13 per month and more than £160 per year. The phone credit that would previously have lasted two weeks now lasts more than four weeks from the same amount of money sent in. Because HMP Birmingham's call hours run from 7am to 11pm, there is plenty of opportunity to make full use of that extra credit throughout the day and evening.
When your loved one calls you from HMP Birmingham, the number that appears on your screen will be a non-geographic outbound number assigned by the prison phone system. Based on reports from families, numbers beginning with 0121 551 have been associated with outbound calls from HMP Birmingham, though the specific number can change over time and may vary depending on which wing or phone is used.
Importantly, this number is outbound only. You cannot call it back and reach the prison, let alone your loved one. It is simply a caller ID assigned to outgoing prison calls. If you want to make sure you never miss a call, the simplest approach is to ask your loved one what number appears on their handset before the first call and save it in your contacts immediately.
Prisoners at HMP Birmingham buy phone credit through the in-cell or wing canteen system, allocated from their private cash balance. To add money to that balance, families use the official online service at gov.uk/send-prisoner-money. You need the prisoner's full name, date of birth, and prison number, and you pay by Mastercard, Visa, or Maestro debit card. The service is free to use and funds typically arrive within one to three working days. Bank transfers, postal orders, and cash by post are no longer accepted.
The prison number appears on letters, court paperwork, or visit confirmation documents. If you do not have it yet, call the main switchboard on 0121 598 8000 and ask the reception team to help you locate it.
Because HMP Birmingham has in-cell phones with long daily hours, it is easy for credit to run down quickly if multiple calls are being made each day. Switching to a virtual landline number is the most effective way to stretch credit further without sending more money it more than doubles the call time available from the same amount of credit by putting every call on the cheaper landline rate.
You can write to someone at HMP Birmingham at any time. Send letters to Winson Green Road, Birmingham, B18 4AS and always include the prisoner's full name and prison number on the envelope. All post other than clearly marked legal correspondence is opened and checked by staff before delivery. There is no limit on how many letters you can send, and writing regularly in the first week before phone access is approved is a good way to maintain contact during the waiting period.
The GOV.UK page for HMP Birmingham confirms that the Email a Prisoner service is available. You can send messages through emailaprisoner.com and they are printed and delivered to the cell, usually the next working day. Depending on the rules at Birmingham Prison at the time of your contact, you may also be able to attach photos and receive typed replies. There is a small fee per message but it is less expensive than the equivalent time on a mobile call.
The GOV.UK page for HMP Birmingham confirms that the Prison Voicemail service is also available at this prison. If you miss a call or your loved one cannot get through, they can leave you a voicemail message through the system. This is worth setting up as a backup, particularly in the early weeks before a regular call schedule has been established.
Video calls are available at most UK prisons through the Prison Video app at prisonvideo.gov.uk. Slots need to be requested and approved from inside the prison and availability varies. For children especially, being able to see as well as hear a parent makes a significant difference, and video calls are worth pursuing even if the setup takes a little time.
Before you can attend a visit, your loved one needs to add you to their visitor list through the residential units system. You cannot book a visit directly the prisoner must book it from inside and then tell you the confirmed date and time. For visits enquiries, call 0121 598 8178.The Pact (Prison Advice and Care Trust) Family and Visitors Centre at HMP Birmingham provides a warm welcome for families attending visits. Pact staff offer emotional and practical support before and after your visit, and additional help if it is your first visit or you are anxious about the experience. You can contact Pact through their website at pact.org.uk.
Social visits take place Monday to Friday at 09:00 to 11:45 (with a split session on Thursdays of 09:00 to 10:00 and 10:45 to 11:45), 14:00 to 16:00, and Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings 18:00 to 19:30. There are also weekend visits. Always confirm current session times before travelling as these can change.Dress code is enforced at the gate. You will not be allowed in wearing skirts or shorts shorter than knee length, clothing with offensive patterns or logos, or anything that could be confused with staff or prisoner clothing. Headwear is subject to search. Refreshments are available during visits. Most items you arrive with will need to go in a locker. For specific dress code queries, call 0121 598 8178.HMP Birmingham is located in Winson Green, approximately two miles from Birmingham city centre. The nearest railway stations are Winson Green/Outer Circle (Midland Metro), or from Birmingham New Street take the 16 bus towards Winson Green. There is limited street parking near the prison. The full address for sat-nav is Winson Green Road, Birmingham, B18 4AS.
Yes. HMP Birmingham has in-cell phones and prisoners can make calls every day between 7am and 11pm, as confirmed by the official GOV.UK page for the prison. This is a longer window than many older establishments where calls are limited to communal phones during association periods.
Calls can be made every day from 7am to 11pm. The in-cell phone system means prisoners are not restricted to association periods.
Your loved one submits your number for approval when they arrive. Security staff check and activate approved numbers, which may take a few days. Up to 20 numbers can be held on the approved list.
No. The phones do not accept incoming calls. All calls are outgoing only. For urgent welfare concerns, call the Safer Custody helpline on 0121 598 8364 or the main switchboard on 0121 598 8000 and ask for the Orderly Officer.
Calls to UK mobiles cost 5.50p per minute on weekdays and 3.60p at weekends. Calls to UK landlines cost 2.48p per minute on weekdays and 2.20p at weekends. Minimum charge 10p per call. Rates fixed until May 2027.
Calls from HMP Birmingham typically display an outbound 0121 number assigned by the prison phone system. This number is outbound only and cannot be called back. Save it in your contacts so you do not miss a call.
Visits must be booked by the prisoner through the residential units system from inside the prison. You cannot book by phone or email. The prisoner books the visit and tells you the confirmed date. For queries call 0121 598 8178 or contact the Pact Family Centre.
Use the official online service at gov.uk/send-prisoner-money. You need the prisoner's full name, date of birth, and prison number. Pay by debit card — the service is free and funds usually arrive within one to three working days.
Give your loved one a Prison Call virtual landline number instead of your mobile. They pay 2.48p per minute on weekdays instead of 5.50p, saving over 55%. The call forwards to your mobile — no app needed. Plans from £19.99 per month at callfromprison.co.uk.
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