Before starting to make phone calls the prisoner has to provide the numbers they wish to call. They can list up to 20 numbers that they will be using for personal reasons and another 5 for business reason, i.e. solicitors. The prisoner will only be able to call numbers on his/her list. Numbers can be changed but there may be a charge to do this. When adding a new number it make take a couple of days for the new number to be verified and authorised.
When they have made an application for funds to be transferred to their personal pin number (phone credit) they will be able to make calls.
Most prison phones will only allow conversations of up to 10 minutes at a time. A prisoner usually can re-join the queue after their 10 minutes are up to call the person back and continue their conversation. Some phone cards have a mandatory 10 minute wait before it will allow another call to be made. Calls are made during ‘association’ – the prisoners recreational time out of their cells usually evenings and weekends. Enhanced prisoners will get the chance to use the phone most days, and all other prisons will have the chance around twice a week.