Inmate Communication Costs by State 2026

Sorted cheapest to priciest. Prices are in-state 15-minute call prices for the state prison system, from Worth Rises PrisonJailTelecomData, snapshot January 14, 2026. Click a state for its full communication page.

• Vermont is the only state where in-state and out-of-state prices differ: $0.42 in-state, $0.90 out-of-state. The table shows the in-state price.
• New Mexico: the dataset lists Smart Communications at $0.60. Our New Mexico state page previously named Securus for phone service based on 2022 reporting; the New Mexico Corrections Department 2025 Annual Report states Smart Communications is deployed statewide. The dataset row is shown as published, and the state page is being corrected to match the newer sources.
• Virginia: the dataset lists ViaPath at $0.35 ($0.023 per minute derived), while WHRO reported Virginia DOC phone rates at $0.0409 per minute in December 2025. The two sources conflict; the dataset figure is shown as published.
• Washington DC is not in the dataset, so no DC row is shown. No federal row is shown: the dataset's federal row ($0.00) could not be verified against the Bureau of Prisons published rate schedule, so it is omitted rather than presented as a federal rate.

Five states charged $0.00 for a 15-minute state prison call in the January 2026 data: California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New York. In these states the government absorbs the cost of calls instead of passing it to families.

New York is the most recent addition. Calls from New York state prisons became free on August 1, 2025, by administrative action. Before that, New York charged $0.024 per minute under Securus plus three free 15-minute calls per week. The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision covers the cost, about $9 million in the current fiscal year, saving roughly 30,000 families about $13.3 million per year according to Worth Rises.

Colorado is phasing in free calls and was at $0.08 per 15-minute call in the January 2026 data: nearly free, but not yet $0.00. Its full-effect deadline is July 2026. Do not count Colorado as fully free until that takes effect. The free-communication movement is tracked by the #ConnectFamiliesNow campaign.

The FCC set interim caps on October 28, 2025 (FCC 25-75, adopted 2-1), published December 5, 2025 (90 FR 56062). These replaced the 2024 caps, which had set prison audio at $0.06 per minute and prison video at $0.16 per minute, after the 2024 caps were postponed in June 2025. The interim caps below come from 47 CFR 64.6030. Providers may charge up to an additional $0.02 per minute above the caps to recover facility costs (64.6030(d)).

Audio calls, per minute

Video calls, per minute

The same rules ban site commissions (64.6015), ancillary service charges (64.6020), per-call and per-connection charges (64.6080), and flat-rate calling for interstate and international calls (64.6090). Providers may not impose minimum balances and must allow deposits of at least $50 per transaction (64.6100). Only mandatory or authorized taxes and fees may be passed through (64.6070). Providers must offer per-minute rates and disclose their rates (64.6030(a), 64.6110).

The caps are interim and subject to further FCC action and litigation. For the full narrative history, see our guide on why prison phone calls are so expensive and the glossary entry for the FCC rate cap.

The table on this page covers state prison systems: the state agency rate in each state. County jail rates are a different dataset with different vendors and only partial coverage (about one third of US counties in the Worth Rises county file). County jail rates are generally higher and more varied than state prison rates. Do not use a state prison rate to predict what a county jail call will cost.

Federal Bureau of Prisons rates are not in this dataset. The dataset's single federal row could not be verified against the Bureau of Prisons published rate schedule, so no federal figure is published here. For a county jail, check the specific jail's page. For federal custody, check the Bureau of Prisons.

Rates vary because each facility or agency negotiates its own contract, because states have taken different paths on free-call laws, and because the FCC caps are tiered by facility size. For years, providers competed for exclusive contracts by offering facilities a share of call revenue, called a site commission, and covered that cost by charging families higher rates. Site commissions are now banned, but the patchwork of contracts still produces the spread in the table.

What that spread means for families is concrete. Reporting by In These Times and Type Investigations found that more than 1 in 3 families with incarcerated loved ones go into debt for phone calls and visitation, and that families spend almost $4,200 a year on average communicating with, visiting, and supporting loved ones. In one case, a jail shut off phones entirely for 18 months after the FCC banned commissions; when calls resumed, one family spent $35 to $40 per week. A Reuters report from 2020 described a grandmother spending $100 a week on calls and video so her grandchildren could stay connected with their father.

• Video visit rates. The dataset has no video rates. Video caps come from the CFR tables above.
• Messaging and email rates, deposit and transaction fees, and tablet costs. None are in the dataset.
• Washington DC. Not in the dataset.
• Federal Bureau of Prisons rates. The dataset's single federal row is unverified and omitted.
• County jail rates. The county file is a separate dataset with partial coverage; county rows are not mixed into the state table.

• Use a prepaid account rather than collect calls. Prepaid rates are consistently lower.
• Add money in larger amounts when possible. Providers often charge a flat fee per deposit.
• Check whether your state offers free calls before funding an account.
• Confirm the facility's provider before setting up any account. The wrong provider means no calls.
• If you believe you are being charged above the FCC caps, document the charges and file a complaint with the FCC at fcc.gov.

State prices come from Worth Rises PrisonJailTelecomData on GitHub, snapshot January 14, 2026. Worth Rises scraped the rates from vendor public postings, grouped them by agency, removed outliers, and confirmed the vendor by website or phone call where multiple vendors were reported for one agency. Counties that send people to regional or state facilities have the regional or state rate copied into their county row, so county rows are not all independently verified. ViaPath data after February 23, 2024 was corrected for a rounding error; earlier ViaPath data may have minor inaccuracies. Rates are facts compiled from public vendor postings; the table above transforms and summarizes the dataset rather than republishing it. Data compiled by Worth Rises and the #ConnectFamiliesNow campaign: PrisonJailTelecomData on GitHub.

FCC caps come from 47 CFR 64.6030, adopted in FCC 25-75 on October 28, 2025 and published December 5, 2025 (90 FR 56062). Free-state details come from Worth Rises and contemporaneous reporting. Real-user cost examples come from In These Times, Type Investigations, Reuters, and TMJ4 reporting. Search demand figures reflect our own Search Console data for September 16 to October 13, 2026, in which cost questions appeared but ranked at positions 17 to 32.

Rates change. Verify the current rate with the facility before funding an account.