First phone call from prison

Yesterday I received my first phone call from Ted since he went to prison on September 22nd. Hey, it only took three months!

Our phone company, Bright House, blocked any calls from prisons. Previously, I mentioned that an account needed to be set up with Correctional Billing Services to be able to receive calls. Correctional Billing Services said there were several ways to pay: by Western Union, credit card, direct billing through the phone company (for an additional fee) or direct billing through Correction Billing Services (via a credit check, but no additional fee). You can only receive collect calls from a prison on a home phone - no cell phones are allowed.

I had previously chosen to be direct billed on my phone bill, but Ted tried to call Tuesday and Friday and was unable to get through. I luckily visited him on Saturday and Sunday (more on that later) and he told me the calls wouldn’t connect.

When I got back home, I called Correctional Billing Services (the only service Florida allows) and made a prepaid account for $50. The representative advised me that for each call, there was a connect fee of $1.20 and each minute would be .04. Since Ted can only make one 15 minute call per day, this would buy 27 calls.

It was so wonderful to hear his voice – especially during this holiday week. He called again tonight. Ted recently experienced a stressful situation at Lancaster. Like so much of what goes on inside, he’s not able to write about it at this time.

He should be eligible to go to a work release camp soon. He will be able to pick two work release camps and will choose two close to home. The closest ones are in Largo, St. Petersburg and Tampa. Apparently, inmates at work release camps go to real jobs for eight hours and return to the camps in the evenings.