Phone & Video Calls in Rhode Island (RIDOC)

How Phone Calls Work

Rhode Island’s prison phones run on Securus, and calls go one direction: the incarcerated person dials out, collect or prepaid, to numbers on their approved list — up to 10 personal numbers, plus 5 attorney numbers that don’t count against it. Every call except attorney calls cuts off at 20 minutes, phone hours are set by each facility’s warden and posted in the housing units, and list changes go through a request form, considered case by case for situations like a family emergency.

All calls except those with attorneys or law enforcement are recorded, both parties hear a notice, and the recipient must accept the call. Call forwarding and three-way calling trigger disconnection and possible discipline. If your number carries a block, the published rule is flat: the call is not allowed — RIDOC cites the possibility of no-contact orders as the reason it won’t lift blocks.

What Calls Cost

Two things are true at once and worth keeping straight:

• Calls are not free. Proposals to make Rhode Island prison communication free have been introduced in recent legislative sessions but had not passed as of this guide’s review.
• Rates are legally capped low. A Rhode Island law on the books since 2006 requires that prison phone rates not exceed comparable non-prison consumer rates, bans facility surcharges, and bans commissions to the state — the kickbacks that inflate prices elsewhere. Contract documents from 2018-2021 listed rates of a few cents a minute, among the lowest reported in the country.

RIDOC publishes no current rate sheet — the live rate shows in the Securus account. Family-side accounts are set up at securustech.net (AdvancePay for prepaid calls to your number), and the 24/7 automated line at (401) 414-2871 walks through funding options.

Family Emergencies

For a death or serious illness in the family, call the facility (after hours, the 24/7 line reaches the shift commander’s chain) — death notifications are delivered to the person through the facility chaplain. There is no published free-emergency-call entitlement on the person’s side, but phone-list changes can be considered case by case for family emergencies, and the committing areas at intake have no-PIN phones for bail arrangements.

Video Visits

Video visiting runs on the Securus Video Visitation system, and Rhode Island’s posted rules are specific:

• Only people on the approved visiting list (or with advance warden approval) may video visit
• Registration at securustech.net requires a photo of yourself and current government ID
• Visits are requested at least 24 hours ahead, during the person’s assigned visiting period — facility schedules mark video-only blocks
• The posted price is $5.00 per 20-minute visit, charged to the incarcerated person’s account — and still charged if the visit fails because of either party, though not if RIDOC causes the failure
• The dress code applies on camera, sessions are monitored and recorded (attorney visits logged but not monitored), and nothing may be held up to the screen — no photos, letters, or documents

The $5.00 price comes from RIDOC’s information sheet revised in 2020 — federal rate caps have since reshaped video-calling prices nationally, so the amount shown at booking is the live one.

Tablets and Messaging

Rhode Island’s tablet picture is genuinely unsettled, and this guide won’t pretend otherwise. What’s published: the state announced a secure prison Wi-Fi network in 2024 supporting remote learning, online commissary, telemedicine, and “secure messaging,” a nonprofit education-tablet program operates at the Moran facility, and 2025 announcements described personal tablets as the delivery device for digitized mail. What’s not published anywhere official: a family-facing electronic messaging service, its prices, or how to sign up. If someone tells you to fund a messaging account, verify directly with RIDOC or through the person before paying — the 24/7 line at (401) 414-2871 is the check.

Verify Before Acting

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