How to Call an Inmate in Ohio

If you have a friend or family member incarcerated in an Ohio prison who would like to have telephone contact with you, the first telephone contact you will receive will be an AUTOMATED CALL from Global Tel Link, the provider of the Ohio inmate phone services.  

This call will ask your permission to add your phone number to the inmate’s CALL ALLOW LIST.  This AUTOMATED SYSTEM will call your phone number three times a day for five days until it receives a YES or NO response. Once you have answered yes to this call, any subsequent call attempts will be allowed to go to your number, unless there is a billing problem with your number.

Global Tel*Link Information

Inmate telephone service in Ohio is provided through Global Tel*Link (GTL).  For questions or assistance regarding the telephone system or services, please contact the GTL Customer Call Center at 1-877-650-4249 during the following hours:

  • Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. (midnight) Eastern Standard Time
  • Saturday and Sunday 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time

Inmate Telephone Calling Options

Inmates may make telephone calls ONLY to those individuals on their approved telephone calling list who have agreed to accept the inmate’s calls while incarcerated. Inmate telephone calls may be paid for through one of the following options:

  • STANDARD COLLECT CALL – Placing the telephone call collect. This requires the person receiving the call to have the capability for collect calls under Global Tel*Link’s billing services.  The person receiving the call is responsible for paying for the telephone call.
  • PREPAID COLLECT CALL – The inmate would place a collect call.  However, the person receiving the call must have prepaid for the collect call through an account established with Global Tel*Link.  Prepaid collect calls receive a 20% discount over standard collect calls.  Prepaid collect call accounts can be established through Global Tel*Link’s website. 
  • PIN DEBIT – All offenders are now able to directly pay for the telephone calls they make using a Pin Debit telephone account. 
  • KIOSKS – You may deposit funds through the Kiosks available in the front entry building of each prison in the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections system. The kiosks will accept deposits using cash, credit or debit cards. The kiosk provider charges a $3 transaction fee at the kiosks, regardless of type or amount of transaction.
  • OFFENDER COMMISSARY – The offender may purchase telephone debit account credits at the prison commissary, using funds from their offender personal account. You can add funds to this account through JPay. (see below)

Restricting Calls from Ohio Prisoners or a Specific Inmate

If you have received a telephone call from an Ohio prison and wish to restrict further calls from all Ohio prisons or from a specific inmate, please call Global Tel*Link at 1-877-650-4249 and follow the telephone prompts for this service.

Other Funding Options

Friends and family members may continue to place money on offender personal accounts through alternative payment options to help fund phone calls (and other commissary items), which include:

  1. Mail money orders to JPay, or use their website or app to add funds to your inmate’s commissary account.
  2. Call GTL’s toll-free telephone number at 1-888-988-4768, site ID #86.
  3. Deposit funds online at the following website: https://web.connectnetwork.com/.
  4. Use the ConnectNetwork smart phone application.

Inmate Phone Rates Reduced

Telephone calls are one of the primary means of inmates maintaining connections with family and loved ones during incarceration; maintaining these connections positively influences behavior in prison and the likelihood an offender will succeed upon release from prison.  

Directly aligned with the agency mission of reducing recidivism, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections’ current contract with Global Tel Link (GTL) was renegotiated to drastically reduce telephone rates to five cents per minute, plus all applicable government mandated taxes and Federal Universal Service Fund fees for all calls within the United States, with no surcharge or connection fee.

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