A new service agreement for inmate telephone services to the Cowley County Jail and Work Release Center was approved by Cowley County commissioners during a regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday morning.
The lines in the new jail are already in place and have only to be connected to the telephones, according to Terry McClure, jail spokesman.
The inmate telephone system allows inmates to make collect calls. The system doesn’t cost taxpayers. It actually brings in revenue. Between $25,000 and $30,000 has been generated annually, County Administrator Leroy Alsup said.
Securus Technologies presently contracts with the county to provide the service and will continue to provide the expanded service for the new jail. Friends and relatives of an inmate will be able to set up pre-paid accounts.
A 20 minute phone card will cost $12; a 60-minute card $36 and a 40-minute card $24. The county will receive a 30 percent commission rate.
There are four telephones for inmate use at the present time. The new jail will have two phones per pod. The completed jail will have seven pods.
Alsup expects the jail to be complete in approximately six weeks.
Securus provides inmate phone service to Butler County Corrections, the Ford, Lyon, Seward and Stanton County jails.
A Friends and Family Telephone Service Guide provided commissioners informs users who receive calls from a correctional facility must use a touch-tone telephone. They will hear a computerized voice when they answer a call from a correctional facility and should wait for the voice to finish speaking. Then family members or friends should follow the instructions to accept, decline or block the call.