Phone & Video Calls in Louisiana (DPS&C)

How Calls Work

Phone service at Louisiana’s state prisons runs through Securus Technologies. Calls go one direction only — the incarcerated person places them, prison phones cannot receive calls, and calls are typically limited to 15 minutes. Each person maintains an approved list of up to 20 numbers (family, friends, legal), submitted from the inside and updated quarterly; calls to numbers not on the list are blocked. Calls to a cell phone are allowed if the person you’re calling sets up a Securus account with their home address — but calls to prepaid cell phones are not allowed.

Setting Up an Account and Costs

To receive calls, set up a prepaid account with Securus — the family billing and support line is 1-800-844-6591, and accounts are managed at securustech.net. Funding the phone account is separate from depositing money to the person’s spending account, which is covered in Sending Money.

On cost: Louisiana’s call rates are in the middle of a federal transition. New national rate caps adopted in 2024 would lower per-minute prices, but Louisiana and its vendor challenged them, and the compliance deadlines and cap amounts have been repeatedly amended through 2025 and 2026. The most recently reported Louisiana rate was about 14 cents a minute (late 2024), but that figure is unstable. The reliable number is whatever the Securus account shows at funding time — confirm the current rate there before relying on it.

Rules That End Calls

Calls are recorded and monitored, with an exception for properly identified attorney calls. Securus systems typically detect three-way or forwarded calls and may disconnect them.

Video Visits

Video visits use JPay Video Connect. They are treated as a scheduled special visit, run over the open internet with supervision at both ends, and availability varies by facility. JPay has listed a rate around $2.50 for a 10-minute session, but — like phone rates — video pricing is changing under the federal rules, so confirm the current cost and whether the specific prison offers remote video through the JPay account. Registration and scheduling happen in the JPay app or at jpay.com. The in-person visiting process is in Visiting in Louisiana.

Messaging

Electronic messaging also runs through JPay, using purchased “stamps,” with photos attachable. Incarcerated people have no internet access — messages move through JPay’s secure system — and every message is scanned and may be read by staff, with the same rejection-and-appeal process as paper mail. Set up messaging at jpay.com or in the JPay app. DPS&C does not publish Louisiana-specific per-message prices, so the cost is whatever the JPay account shows.

Parish Jails Use Different Vendors

The Securus-and-JPay setup above is the state prison system. Most Louisiana state-sentenced people are held in parish jails, and each sheriff picks that jail’s vendors — which are frequently different companies (ICSolutions, ViaPath, NCIC, Smart Communications, and others), with different rates and different video and messaging systems. DPS&C states it plainly: a person in a local facility “must utilize the phone systems that are set up in those facilities.” A family with someone in a parish jail confirms that jail’s phone, video, and messaging vendor with the sheriff’s office.

Verify Before Acting

For the general, nationwide overview of this topic, see the national guide: Staying in Touch.