Federal Inmate Phone Calls

By Elizabeth Franklin-Best, Esq., and Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA

A person in federal prison may use up to 510 minutes of phone time per calendar month — the first 300 at no charge for people eligible for First Step Act telephone incentives — in calls that generally may not exceed 15 minutes each, to numbers on a list that ordinarily holds 30 approved numbers — and every one of those calls is recorded. You cannot call in; only they can call out, and only to a number they have already had approved.

Those numbers come from Program Statement 5264.09, Inmate Telephone Regulations (3 September 2026) at pp. 6–7 and from 28 C.F.R. § 540.101(a). Note which is which: the 510-minute allowance and the 15-minute call limit are Bureau policy, not regulation. The regulation says only that someone with funds is “ordinarily… allowed at least three minutes for a telephone call” and that the Warden may limit the maximum length (28 C.F.R. § 540.101(d)). Policy can change without notice-and-comment. Regulation cannot.

Everything below was verified on 7 September 2026 against the Program Statements in force and against the current text of 28 C.F.R. part 540 and 47 C.F.R. part 64; the telephone-policy material was updated on 19 September 2026 for PS 5264.09, which the Bureau issued on 3 September 2026.

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What the phone system is, and who runs which part of it

The Bureau’s inmate telephone system is called TRUFONE. It is procured centrally: “The Trust Fund Branch procures TRUFONE services (local, collect, long distance, and international) through a national General Services Administration (GSA) contract” (PS 4500.13 at p. 54). Every personal call must go through it — call forwarding, automatic electronic forwarding, three-way calling and any other workaround are prohibited (PS 5264.09 at pp. 3, 8).

Three separate actors set three different things, and conflating them is the reason most pages about prison phone costs are wrong:

• The Bureau sets the rate a person in custody is charged. “The Chief, Trust Fund Branch, with the Assistant Director for Administration’s concurrence, sets telephone rates,” and those rates are “set at a standard per minute flat rate for each type of service… standard throughout the Bureau regardless of location” (PS 4500.13 at p. 55).
• The contract sets collect and prepaid-collect rates. Those “are charged in accordance with TRUFONE contract requirements,” and the called party may be given the collect rate before accepting the call, or may obtain rates from the service provider (PS 4500.13 at p. 55).
• The Federal Communications Commission caps what a provider may charge. Under 47 C.F.R. § 64.6030, a provider of incarcerated people’s communications services may not charge more than $0.09 per minute for audio at a prison, plus up to $0.02 per minute to recover the correctional facility’s own costs of making the service available.

The single most useful sentence in the whole policy is this one: “Wardens ensure information concerning direct dial rates is kept on file in the institution (e.g., Law Library, inmate library, units)” (PS 4500.13 at p. 55). The current rate is a document sitting in the law library. If you want the real number, that is where it lives — not on any website, including this one.

The phone list and the phone account both run through TRULINCS, the Bureau’s inmate computer system, which is also what powers CorrLinks email. Telephone-number requests entered on TRULINCS process through to TRUFONE in about 15 minutes (PS 4500.13 at p. 126).

What a call costs, and how to price it yourself

Because the Bureau does not publish its TRUFONE rate table on the open web and the rate is set administratively, the honest way to answer “how much is a call from federal prison” is to give you the arithmetic and the ceiling, not a number that may already be stale.

The FCC ceiling, current as of the 27 August 2026 edition of the Code of Federal Regulations. 47 C.F.R. § 64.6030 sets these interim per-minute caps:

Facility type	Audio cap	Video cap
Prison	$0.09	$0.23
Jail, average daily population 1,000 or more	$0.08	$0.17
Jail, ADP 350–999	$0.10	$0.17
Jail, ADP 100–349	$0.11	$0.19
Jail, ADP 50–99	$0.13	$0.23
Jail, ADP 49 or fewer	$0.17	$0.42

A provider may add up to $0.02 per minute above those caps to recover the correctional facility’s costs of making the service available (47 C.F.R. § 64.6030(d)). So the effective ceiling at a federal prison is $0.11 a minute for audio and $0.25 for video.

Now the arithmetic. Take whatever rate is posted at your facility and read across:

If the posted rate is	A 15-minute call costs	300 minutes cost
$0.06	$0.90	$18.00
$0.09 (the FCC prison cap)	$1.35	$27.00
$0.11 (cap plus facility additive)	$1.65	$33.00
$0.15	$2.25	$45.00
$0.16	$2.40	$48.00
$0.21	$3.15	$63.00
$0.30	$4.50	$90.00
$0.35	$5.25	$105.00
$0.55	$8.25	$165.00
$0.75	$11.25	$225.00
$0.99	$14.85	$297.00
$1.50	$22.50	$450.00

That table is worth keeping because international rates and collect rates historically sat at the high end of it — a legacy prepaid international rate near $0.99 a minute or a collect long-distance international rate near $1.50 a minute turns a single 15-minute call into more than a week of prison wages. For scale: a person assigned to the TRULINCS work detail earns $0.55 an hour to start and $0.75 an hour after three months’ service (PS 4500.13 at p. 120); Commissary detail pay tops out at $1.20 an hour after nine months (PS 4500.13 at p. 24). At those wages, a $1.50-a-minute call is not a phone call. It is a decision about the month.

Applied Insight — Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA, Managing Director: Families routinely fund the phone account and the commissary account as if they were the same pot of money. They are not, and the transfer is one-directional in practice. Money moved from commissary to TRUFONE can be moved back only in narrow circumstances, so it is worth deciding at the start of the month how much is for calls and moving only that.

On the FCC rules, one correction that matters. The Commission’s 2024 order set audio and video caps that were widely reported as taking effect on 1 January 2025. Those caps were superseded. On 6 November 2025 the Commission released a Report and Order and Order on Reconsideration establishing new interim rate caps, a new size tier for extremely small jails, and a separate rate additive for facility costs; the rule took effect 5 December 2025, and providers must comply with the revised caps beginning 6 April 2026 (90 Fed. Reg. 56062 (Dec. 5, 2025)). The caps in the table above are the ones now codified at 47 C.F.R. § 64.6030. Any page still quoting a $0.06 audio cap and a $0.16 video cap is quoting a rule that has been replaced.

Debit or collect: two different bills, two different payers

There are two ways a call gets paid for, and the difference decides who is out of pocket.

• Debit (direct dial). The person inside prepays. They move money from their commissary account into their TRUFONE account — twice per day maximum, through the telephone system’s interactive voice response menu — and calls draw down that balance (PS 4500.13 at p. 55). Moving the full TRUFONE balance back to commissary is possible but counts as one of the two daily transfers.
• Collect. You pay. Collect rates come from the TRUFONE contract, not from the Bureau’s flat rate table, and the called party can ask for the rate before accepting (PS 4500.13 at p. 55). Third-party billing and electronic transfer of a call to a third party are prohibited (28 C.F.R. § 540.105(a)).

Collect calling is not the default. The Warden “may allow the placement of collect calls for good cause,” and the regulation lists the examples: new arrivals including new commitments and transfers; people held at Metropolitan Correctional Centers, Metropolitan Detention Centers or Federal Detention Centers; pretrial detainees; people in holdover status; people without funds; and family emergencies (28 C.F.R. § 540.101(e)). If your loved one has just arrived and has no money on the books, that provision is the one to ask about by name.

Money on the books is not sent to the institution. Deposits from family and friends go to the Bureau’s centralized processing center in Des Moines, Iowa, and must be a money order made out to the person’s full name and complete register number, with no enclosures in the envelope (28 C.F.R. § 506.2(a)). Checks are returned to the sender. Every BOP facility page repeats the same warning — see, for example, USP Terre Haute. Our step-by-step guides cover sending money to a federal inmate, Western Union and MoneyGram, and how much money to send puts the phone budget alongside everything else they need to buy.

One more Trust Fund detail worth knowing: an account statement is not free. Someone who needs a printed TRUFONE statement is charged $3.00 for each 30-day period requested, ordered on a BP-199, and statements are only processed for the most recent 12 months (PS 4500.13 at p. 56).

If they have no money: the indigence rule

This is the provision families most often do not know exists.

“The Warden shall provide at least one collect call each month for an inmate who is without funds. An inmate without funds is defined as an inmate who has not had a trust fund account balance of $6.00 for the past 30 days.” — 28 C.F.R. § 540.105(b) (verified current, eCFR edition of 3 September 2026)

The Warden may increase that number based on local conditions such as population, staff resources and usage demand, and may also impose restrictions to prevent abuse — the regulation’s example is someone who depletes their commissary balance right before placing collect calls. Separately, the Warden “may direct the government to bear the expense of inmate telephone use or allow a call to be made collect under compelling circumstances such as when an inmate has lost contact with his family or has a family emergency” (28 C.F.R. § 540.105(d)).

Two notes on citation. First, the 2008 edition of the telephone policy reprinted that last provision as § 540.105(c); in the current regulation § 540.105(c) is [Reserved] and the provision is (d), which is how the September 2026 edition now prints it (PS 5264.09 at p. 10). Second, telephone access is not the only thing indigence touches — see what indigent federal inmates are provided.

Building the phone list: 30 numbers, one change a month

Nobody can call in. The only way a call happens is that your number is on their approved list and they dial it.

• The list ordinarily holds up to 30 numbers. The Associate Warden may authorize more based on individual circumstances — the regulation’s own example is family size (28 C.F.R. § 540.101(a)). PS 5264.09 adds work and home numbers for a spouse and children as another situation where more may be warranted (p. 5).
• How it gets built. During admission and orientation, someone who wants phone privileges prepares a proposed list and acknowledges that the people on it are willing to receive their calls (28 C.F.R. § 540.101(a)(1)). Where TRULINCS terminals — the policy now calls it the electronic inmate communications system — allow list updates, they build and maintain the list themselves and must enter complete and accurate contact information (PS 5264.09 at p. 4). Everyone else submits a BP-A1054, TRULINCS Contact Request Form, to Unit Management staff, who sign it to verify the person’s identity and that no victim is being added, and forward it securely to the phone-system staff; the form is never returned to the person or handled by another person in custody (PS 5264.09 at pp. 4–5). A submitted list is ordinarily processed within seven calendar days (PS 5264.09 at p. 4).
• You may get a letter. When someone asks to add a number for a person who is not immediate family and not already on the visiting list, staff ordinarily notify that person in writing that their number has been added, and tell them their number will be removed on their written request (28 C.F.R. § 540.101(a)(2)).
• Changes are limited to once a month. The regulation only requires the Warden to allow list changes “on at least a quarterly basis” (28 C.F.R. § 540.101(b)); the Program Statement is more generous and permits proposed changes once per calendar month, or more often where staff determine a demonstrated need for prompt communication (PS 5264.09 at p. 5). That once-a-month rule dates from the 2008 edition (PS 5264.08, now rescinded), which cut the allowance from three times a month to once.
• The list also caps at 30 on the TRULINCS side. “Ordinarily, inmates are limited to having 30 active telephone numbers on their phone list” (PS 4500.13 at p. 126).
• A number can be refused. The Associate Warden may deny placement of a number where there is a threat to institution security or good order or to the public, must document the disapproval in writing to both the person inside and the proposed recipient, and must tell the denied recipient they may appeal by writing to the Warden within 15 days of receiving the denial (28 C.F.R. § 540.101(a)(3)). The person in custody can appeal through the administrative remedy program.

Access codes are not shareable. Nobody may possess another person’s telephone access code, give theirs away, or fail to report a compromised code immediately to unit staff (28 C.F.R. § 540.101(c)). Where the system uses it, staff must also register the person for voice verification before they can place calls, using both the first and last of their committed name (PS 4500.13 at p. 55).

Blocking a number — and getting it unblocked

This is a two-way street, and the procedures differ depending on who asked.

If the institution blocks it. The Associate Warden may block a number on an individual’s account case by case, and must notify them of an administrative block ordinarily within five calendar days of the denial or removal (PS 5264.09 at p. 5). The Associate Warden may also block numbers institution-wide — the policy’s own examples are gambling lines. Bureau-wide blocks require approval from the Chief, Intelligence Section, Intelligence and Counterterrorism Branch, or designee (PS 5264.09 at p. 5). Numbers for victims and witnesses who have requested notification about a person at a Bureau facility are blocked at that facility (PS 5264.09 at p. 5). Written block requests are ordinarily processed by Trust Fund staff within one working day (PS 4500.13 at p. 57).

If you block it. As the call recipient you can refuse and block further calls from your own handset — a voice prompt walks you through it, and the capability works for both direct-dial and collect calls (PS 5264.09 at p. 6). Undoing it is harder than doing it. Once you have blocked the number, you can unblock it only by sending a written request for reinstatement, and that request must include a copy of a recent telephone bill and a copy of a valid government identification so staff can verify your identity (PS 5264.09 at p. 6). If instead you telephone the institution and ask staff to block you, unit staff may have a temporary suspension placed not to exceed 30 calendar days, after taking reasonable steps to verify who you are; you must then submit a prompt written request to make it permanent (PS 5264.09 at p. 6).

One trap: deleting a number does not lift a block. When someone asks to delete a blocked number, “the number is marked as inactive on the inmate’s telephone number list while retaining the block” (PS 4500.13 at p. 57).

Monitoring, and the one exception to it

Assume every call is recorded, because it is. “All calls processed through TRUFONE are recorded” (PS 4500.13 at p. 54). The regulation requires the Warden to establish monitoring procedures for any telephone in the institution and to give notice of the potential for monitoring (28 C.F.R. § 540.102). In practice that notice is a form and a sign: the person acknowledges the monitoring procedures on a BP-A0408, filed in the central file, and a notice in both Spanish and English is posted at every monitored telephone stating that all conversations are subject to monitoring and that using the phone constitutes consent (PS 5264.09 at p. 8).

The exception is properly placed attorney calls. The regulation is short and firm: “Staff may not monitor an inmate’s properly placed call to an attorney. The Warden shall notify an inmate of the proper procedures to have an unmonitored telephone conversation with an attorney” (28 C.F.R. § 540.102). And on frequency: “The Warden may not apply frequency limitations on inmate telephone calls to attorneys when the inmate demonstrates that communication with attorneys by correspondence, visiting, or normal telephone use is not adequate” (28 C.F.R. § 540.103).

How that works in practice:

1. The request goes to the unit team. The posted notice at every monitored phone must advise people to contact their assigned Unit Management to request an unmonitored attorney call (PS 5264.09 at p. 8).
2. Frequent confidential calls need a reason. Because the Bureau also provides special-mail correspondence and private attorney visits, frequent unmonitored calls “should be allowed only when an inmate demonstrates communication with their attorney by other means is not adequate” — the policy’s own example is an imminent court deadline (PS 5264.09 at p. 8).
3. Staff verify the number. Reasonable efforts are made to confirm the call is going to an attorney’s office (PS 5264.09 at p. 8).
4. The person in custody pays. Telephone expenses, legal calls included, fall on the person in custody (28 C.F.R. § 540.105(a)); the 2008 edition’s preference for placing unmonitored legal calls collect is not in the 2026 policy. Third-party and three-way calls are not authorized (PS 5264.09 at p. 8).
5. These calls do not eat the monthly allowance. “The 510 minutes per calendar month limitation does not apply to an inmate’s ability to place unmonitored legal telephone calls” (PS 5264.09 at p. 7).

A number placed on the ordinary telephone list is a different thing. “Attorneys may be included on an inmate’s telephone list with the understanding that such calls are subject to monitoring” (PS 5264.09 at p. 4). Being on the list does not make a call privileged; the unmonitored-call procedure does. For the full picture, see attorney-client communications in the Bureau of Prisons, our summary of PS 1315.08, Inmate Legal Activities, and this explainer on attorney-client privilege.

Requests from outside for recordings — subpoenas and the like — are processed under the Bureau’s policy on recorded inmate telephone conversations (PS 5264.09 at p. 8). That is a meaningfully higher bar than applies to TRULINCS email, where the Bureau’s own manual states that subpoenas “are not required, as compared to recorded telephone conversations” (PS 4500.13 at p. 131).

No faxes. “The Bureau does not allow inmates to send or receive facsimile communications” (PS 5264.09 at p. 8).

When the phones are on, and when they are not

The operating window is national; the restrictions inside it are institutional.

	Rule	Source
Phones live	6:00 a.m. to no later than 11:30 p.m.	PS 5264.09 p. 7
Phones off	At least 11:30 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.	PS 5264.09 p. 7
Access within those hours	Determined locally by the Warden; the 2008 weekday work-hours restriction is not in the 2026 edition	PS 5264.09 p. 7
Maximum call length	Should generally not exceed 15 minutes	PS 5264.09 p. 6
Warning before cut-off	A tone approximately one minute before disconnection, on both debit and collect calls	PS 5264.09 p. 7
Gap between calls	The Warden determines the interval, with a minimum of at least 30 minutes between completed calls	PS 5264.09 p. 6
Monthly allowance	510 minutes per calendar month, any mix of collect and direct-dial; 300 at no charge for people eligible for First Step Act telephone incentives	PS 5264.09 p. 7
After 300 minutes	Anyone may purchase an additional 210 minutes; the 2008 extra 100 minutes in November and December is gone	PS 5264.09 p. 7
Indigent people	Additional minutes may be provided at the Warden’s discretion, for good cause	PS 5264.09 p. 7
Minimum, if funded	At least three minutes for a call	28 C.F.R. § 540.101(d)
Floor for everyone	At least one call per month, unless under a disciplinary telephone-restriction sanction	28 C.F.R. § 540.100(b)

The 2008 edition restricted weekday phone use during work hours, encouraged discipline for people who left a job to make a call, and let institutions keep one phone per unit open for evening-shift and days-off workers such as food service and UNICOR workers; none of that appears in the September 2026 edition, which leaves access within the operating hours to the Warden. The hours restrictions still “should not be imposed” at pretrial or holdover institutions or units, where people are not required to work and need daytime access to prepare for trial (PS 5264.09 at p. 7).

No telephone Institution Supplement anymore. The 2008 edition required each institution to publish a local telephone supplement covering call length, the interval between calls, incomplete call attempts and extra minutes; the September 2026 edition says “Institution Supplement. None.” (PS 5264.09 at p. 2). National policy now sets the outer limits — calls generally no longer than 15 minutes, at least 30 minutes between completed calls, 510 minutes a month — and the Warden decides access within them (PS 5264.09 at pp. 6–7). If someone tells you “you get X minutes and wait Y minutes,” ask for the written local rule.

Toll-free and credit-card calls are not authorized — the policy names 1-800, 1-888, 1-877, 1-866, 1-900 and 1-976 numbers and credit card access numbers (PS 5264.09 at p. 3).

Restrictions, PSFs, and what gets someone taken off the phone

Telephone restrictions come from two different places, and they run on different clocks. Restrictions imposed by the Warden under Section 9 of the policy “are separate and apart from telephone restrictions imposed by the Unit Discipline Committee (UDC) or Discipline Hearing Officer (DHO) following formal and completed inmate discipline proceedings” (PS 5264.09 at pp. 10–11).

Route 1 — Public Safety Factor for Serious Telephone Abuse. Someone whose current offense, prior history or threat characteristics indicate a propensity to abuse phone privileges is assigned the PSF for Serious Telephone Abuse under the security designation manual, which authorizes a restriction (PS 5264.09 at p. 11). On the Trust Fund side, that person is flagged with a “Y” in the PSF field and their account is disabled until a Request for Inmate Telephone Restriction is received from unit management (PS 4500.13 at p. 56). On initial commitment or redesignation they are not authorized to use the phone system until classified by Unit Management and, where restrictions were identified at initial classification, until reviewed and approved by the Warden (PS 5264.09 at p. 11). A PSF-based restriction must be reviewed at least every six months, ordinarily in conjunction with the program review (PS 5264.09 at p. 12).

Route 2 — pending investigation or discipline for possible telephone abuse. The Special Investigative Supervisor’s office ordinarily recommends it; only the Warden may impose it. These restrictions are limited to 30 days, and each further 30-day period requires the Warden’s approval on a new Request for Telephone Restriction form. “Each subsequent restriction period is limited to 30 days,” and staff “should make every effort to complete investigations and disciplinary proceedings for possible telephone abuse within the first 30-day period” (PS 5264.09 at p. 12). Trust Fund staff keep the form in a temporary file reviewed each business day and obtain the Warden’s approval for reinstatement or continuation every 30 days (PS 4500.13 at p. 56).

Three things worth knowing about both routes:

• A restriction does not have to be total. The policy’s own worked example is reducing someone to 100 minutes per month rather than cutting them off entirely, where that is enough to protect institutional safety (PS 5264.09 at p. 12).
• The one-call-a-month floor survives. “Inmates with telephone restrictions are still entitled to place at least one telephone call per month, unless also under a sanction of telephone restriction the UDC or DHO imposed” (PS 5264.09 at pp. 11–12).
• It is appealable. People may challenge Section 9 restrictions through the administrative remedy program (PS 5264.09 at p. 12), and may use the same process for disputes about lists, access, accounts and services (PS 5264.09 at p. 7). Start with an Inmate Request to Staff; see prison grievances.

On the discipline side, the codes are specific. PS 5270.09, Inmate Discipline Program, separates telephone misconduct into three severities:

Code	Conduct	Severity	Good conduct time exposure
197	Use of the telephone for an illegal purpose, or to commit or further a Greatest category prohibited act	Greatest	Disallowance ordinarily 50–75% (27–41 days) of the year’s available GCT (p. 46)
297	Use of the telephone for abuses other than illegal activity that circumvent staff’s ability to monitor frequency, content, or the number called; or to commit or further a High category act	High	Disallowance ordinarily 25–50% (14–27 days) (p. 50)
397	Use of the telephone for abuses that do not circumvent monitoring; or to commit or further a Moderate category act	Moderate	Disallowance ordinarily up to 25% (1–14 days) (p. 53)

Codes and text at PS 5270.09 pp. 46, 49, 53. Loss of privileges — including telephone — is an available sanction at every severity level (pp. 47, 50, 54). Note that three-way calling and call forwarding are the classic Code 297 fact patterns, because both circumvent the ability to monitor the number called. A well-meant conference call is a High-severity incident report.

Separately, a portable telephone is contraband at the Greatest severity level, grouped with escape paraphernalia under Code 108 (PS 5270.09 at p. 45). Nobody in a federal facility may possess a cell phone, and possession is charged at the top of the scale. If an incident report has issued, read inmate discipline proceedings and the BP-A0288 incident report form before the hearing.

Special situations: pretrial, holdover, CMU, and non-system phones

• Pretrial detainees. The Public Safety Factor for Serious Telephone Abuse applies to sentenced people and therefore does not apply to pretrial detainees; if staff receive information about a pretrial detainee that could jeopardize safety, they follow the policy’s restriction procedures instead (PS 5264.09 at p. 2). See pretrial inmates policy.
• Holdover and ICE detainees. Someone with the PSF for Serious Telephone Abuse in holdover status is not permitted access to the phone system except under the collect-call and expense provisions. The same applies to an ICE detainee coded A-INS who has completed a federal sentence and carries the PSF (PS 5264.09 at p. 2).
• Communications Management Units. The reissued PS 5214.05, Communications Management Units (26 February 2026) runs three phases with hard call caps: Phase 1, three connected 15-minute calls per month; Phase 2, one per week; Phase 3, two per week (PS 5214.05 at p. 8). Calls are ordinarily live-monitored by Counter Terrorism Unit staff, subject to recording, and translated where in a foreign language, and may be limited to immediate family; the Warden may require the call be in English or use an approved interpreter (28 C.F.R. § 540.204(a), reprinted at PS 5214.05 at p. 11). CMU calling hours are 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. local time Monday through Friday except holidays, and 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on weekends and holidays (PS 5214.05 at p. 12). Unmonitored attorney calls remain available where necessary for active litigation and an urgent or impending deadline (PS 5214.05 at p. 12). See our summary of the CMU policy.
• Calls outside the system. During a crisis, staff designated by the Warden may allow a call on a phone outside the inmate telephone system. Those phones must be set to record, be in a secure area such as a locked office, carry a bilingual monitoring notice, and be used only by people who have signed the BP-A0408. Staff must email the details to the Special Investigative Services office, and SIS must enter the data into the recording system within seven calendar days (PS 5264.09 at p. 9). Additional monitored non-system phones beyond the single chapel phone require a request from the Warden to the Regional Director (PS 5264.09 at pp. 9–10).
• A separation order can block a contact entirely. A Central Inmate Monitoring separation assignment identifies people who may not be confined together and can carry contact consequences (PS 5180.05 at p. 5). See central inmate monitoring and separatees.

Video calls: what the rule actually says

There is no national federal video visiting program in the Program Statements, and video service is listed in PS 4500.13 only as something each institution’s own supplement must address “where applicable” (PS 4500.13 at p. 14). So whether video exists at your facility is a local question, and the Institution Supplement is what governs it.

What does exist is a regulation. 28 C.F.R. § 540.106 authorizes the Bureau, during a “covered emergency period” as defined by the CARES Act and when the Attorney General determines emergency conditions will materially affect Bureau functioning, to permit video and telephone visitation free of charge, case by case, notwithstanding contrary provisions of part 540. That section remains in the Code of Federal Regulations, and access under it “may be modified, terminated, or reinstated during the emergency period” by the Director as the Attorney General’s designee. It is not a standing entitlement — it is a contingent authority tied to a declared emergency. Our summary of the implementing operations memorandum on video visiting and telephone calls under the CARES Act has the detail.

Where a facility does offer video through a communications provider, the FCC cap applies: $0.23 per minute at a prison, plus up to $0.02 for facility costs (47 C.F.R. § 64.6030(c)(1), (d)). For in-person visits, see inmate visitation.

What changed, and what has not

The telephone policy itself was reissued on 3 September 2026. PS 5264.09 rescinded PS 5264.08, the 2008 edition (24 January 2008, corrected copy 11 February 2008), and its summary of changes lists two changes: it “[m]odifies the number of telephone minutes allowed per calendar month” and replaces the term TRULINCS with “electronic inmate communications system” (PS 5264.09 at p. 1). Set against the 2008 text, the practical differences are larger: the monthly limit rose from 300 to 510 minutes, with 300 free for people eligible for First Step Act telephone incentives; the extra 100 minutes in November and December, the weekday work-hours restriction and the telephone Institution Supplement are gone; a minimum of 30 minutes between completed calls was added; a telephoned request to block a number now produces a suspension of up to 30 days rather than 20; and the paper list form is now the BP-A1054.

Three things around it have changed, and they are why this page is worth re-reading:

1. The money manual was reissued. PS 4500.13 — which carries the rate-setting authority, the TRUFONE account mechanics, and the restriction-processing procedures — is dated 7 May 2026.
2. The FCC rate caps were replaced. The 2024 caps gave way to new interim caps effective 5 December 2025, with a provider compliance date of 6 April 2026 (90 Fed. Reg. 56062; codified at 47 C.F.R. § 64.6030).
3. CMU communication rules were rebuilt. PS 5214.05 (26 February 2026) rescinded the 2015 edition and imposed the three-phase call caps set out above.

One drafting point for anyone quoting the older edition: the 2008 Program Statement reprinted the government-expense provision as 28 C.F.R. § 540.105(c). In the current regulation § 540.105(c) is [Reserved] and that text is § 540.105(d), which is how the 2026 edition prints it (PS 5264.09 at p. 10). Where a Program Statement’s reprint and the regulation differ, the regulation controls.

For the underlying documents, see our summaries of inmate telephone regulations, the trust fund and commissary manual and the inmate discipline program, in the full BOP policy library.

Practical guidance for the person taking the call

• Answer if you can. Calls are rationed: the Warden sets the waiting period between completed calls, which must be at least 30 minutes, and every call draws on a monthly limit of 510 minutes (PS 5264.09 at pp. 6–7).
• Watch for the one-minute tone (PS 5264.09 at p. 7). Say the important thing before it sounds, not after.
• Never accept a three-way call and never forward a call. Both are prohibited (PS 5264.09 at pp. 3, 8) and both are the classic Code 297 High-severity fact pattern (PS 5270.09 at p. 49). Putting a third person on the line is one of the fastest ways to cost someone weeks of good conduct time.
• Assume the recording will be listened to. Do not discuss the case, other people’s conduct, or anything you would not want quoted. Legal strategy belongs in an unmonitored attorney call, a private attorney visit, or properly marked special mail.
• Verify who is calling. Fraudulent calls claiming to involve an incarcerated relative are a persistent scam. Nobody in a federal institution will ask you to wire money to a person, and money on the books goes only to the Des Moines processing center (28 C.F.R. § 506.2).
• If they go quiet, check the locator first. A transfer, a SHU placement or a locked account explains most sudden silences. The inmate locator will tell you where they are, and how the register number works explains what you need to search. If the facility is on a closure list, check major federal prison closures.

When a phone restriction is worth challenging

Most phone problems are administrative — a list not processed, a number blocked by mistake, an account locked after a transfer — and resolve with a written request to the unit team or Trust Fund Supervisor. Some do not: a pre-disciplinary restriction that has quietly outlived its 30-day written authorisation, a PSF that has not been reviewed at the six-month mark, an incident report charging Code 197 where the facts describe Code 397, or a total restriction where a partial one would have done.

Elizabeth Franklin-Best, P.C. is a boutique federal criminal defense and appellate firm founded in 2019, with more than 20 years of federal and appellate criminal defense experience and a nationwide federal practice run on an intentionally small caseload. We handle Bureau of Prisons administrative matters — designation, discipline, medical care, First Step Act time credits and communication restrictions — alongside federal appeals, § 2255 motions, compassionate release and early release planning. If a restriction is keeping your family from talking, contact us at (843) 620-1100. See also our federal prison consulting services and the problems we help with.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Inmate Phone Calls

Reviewed for legal accuracy by Elizabeth Franklin-Best, Esq., Principal Attorney·September 2026