How to Text a Federal Inmate: A Step-by-Step Guide
If you have a loved one in a federal prison, one of the first questions you’ll ask is whether you can simply text them the way you’d text anyone else. The short answer is no — not directly. Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) facilities generally don’t allow inmates to carry personal cell phones — see bop.gov for current BOP policy — so there’s no number you can dial or save the way you would for a friend on the outside. What you cando is text through a service that connects to the system federal inmates actually use for messaging: TRULINCS. Here’s exactly how that works, step by step.
Can You Text Someone in Federal Prison?
Not in the sense of dialing a personal cell number. Every BOP facility runs on TRULINCS — the Trust Fund Limited Inmate Computer System — the government’s own inmate messaging platform, which runs on computer terminals inside the facility rather than on a phone in someone’s pocket. Because your inmate accesses messaging through that TRULINCS terminal rather than a personal phone, “texting” them is really a relay: ContactMeAsap gives you an ordinary phone number to text like you would anyone else, and on the back end, those messages get delivered into your inmate’s TRULINCS account.
There’s also a compliance step your inmate has to take on their end. BOP regulations require that your inmate add your number to their approved contact list before messages will go through — it’s a quick step that takes the inmate just moments once they have your information. Exact contact-list limits and review timelines can vary by facility, so if you need the specifics for your loved one’s institution, the Bureau of Prisons keeps current policy at bop.gov.
How ContactMeAsap Sets Up Texting for You
Step 1: Add Funds and Get Your Instructions
You start by clicking Add Funds, which walks you through the information needed to set up your account. Once your payment is approved, you’ll get instructions by text and email covering exactly what to do next to get the service fully operational. It’s a quick, guided process on our end — you’re not left to figure out TRULINCS on your own.
Step 2: We Add You to Your Inmate’s TRULINCS Account
We provide an easy-to-use, easy-to-remember email address tied to your account, and that address is what gets entered into your inmate’s TRULINCS computer. Once it’s there, your inmate can immediately “text approve” you as a contact, which is the step that satisfies the BOP approved-contact-list requirement described above.
Step 3: Your Inmate Gets a Unique Phone Number
Through legal agreements with major carriers — T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon — we’ve secured high-volume message delivery, so your texts don’t sit in a queue waiting to be relayed. Your inmate is assigned a phone number that belongs only to them for as long as their account stays funded. From that point on, you text that number exactly the way you’d text anyone else in your contacts.
Want the mechanics of TRULINCS and Corrlinks explained in more depth — what they are, how they’re related, and what’s actually happening behind the scenes? See our guide to TRULINCS and Corrlinks explained.
A Contact Book, So Your Inmate Doesn’t Have to Remember Numbers
Once you’re approved, your inmate isn’t stuck memorizing a string of digits to reach you. A contact book (or “phone book”) feature lets your inmate send messages to a saved name instead of a number, and setup instructions for it are included with the welcome email you get once you make a payment. It’s a small detail, but it matters when your inmate is managing several approved contacts at once.
What You Can Send Once You’re Set Up
Sending and receiving text messages with everyone on your inmate’s approved contact list is unlimited on your plan — pay-as-you-go, no auto-billing, and no per-message charge. You can also send photos to the same phone number as a regular multimedia (MMS) text; your inmate will be notified that a photo arrived, its price, and how many other photos are still pending. For better picture quality, we recommend using the website upload form instead of texting a photo directly, since texted photos come through at lower resolution. We cover the full photo process, screening, and pricing in our guide on sending photos to a federal inmate.
Pricing: How Much It Costs to Text a Federal Inmate
The Basic Federal Plan is $20 and includes:
- Unlimited federal inmate text messages
- US & Canada Corrlinks integration
- Pay Per Print Photo Service
- BOP compliant messaging
- Email support
The Premium Federal Plan is $30 and includes everything in Basic, plus:
- The AI assistant “Diamond” for federal inmates
- Puerto Rico & Central/South America coverage
- 25 free federal prison photos
- Priority Corrlinks processing
- 24/7 federal inmate support
Both plans are pay-as-you-go — there’s no auto-billing and no subscription. We don’t save your card details, so you add funds when you need them, and your balance is yours until you use it. If your loved one no longer needs the service, you simply stop adding funds; there’s nothing to cancel. Ready to get your inmate texting? Add funds and get started.
Where Coverage Works
The Basic plan covers the entire United States and Canada. The Premium plan extends that to Puerto Rico and Central/South America. Behind the scenes, a staff of programmers and network engineers monitors the network day and night so the service stays up and messages keep moving. Because messaging is direct to TRULINCS/Corrlinks rather than routed through additional layers, there are no restrictions on how often you text or how long your messages can be — unlimited means unlimited, in both directions.
Why Families Choose ContactMeAsap
ContactMeAsap is a long-standing company in the federal inmate texting field, and it’s 100% female owned and operated, with a workforce built around diversity. Photos and messages are processed entirely in-house rather than handed off to a third party, which matters when the content you’re sending is personal. If you ever think of something that would make the service better, you can open a support ticket and let the team know directly — feedback goes to the people actually running the service, not a call center script.
When Your Inmate Is Released
The phone number doesn’t have to disappear when your loved one comes home. When it’s time for release, the number can be transferred to any cellular carrier your inmate chooses, and we can arrange to switch it over to a regular consumer plan on a specific day — so the same number that carried you through their sentence can keep going once they’re out.
Getting Help Along the Way
For the fastest response, text 734-215-7002anytime, day or night — that line is staffed 24/7. If your issue needs a phone conversation, request an escalation code over text first, then call 763-501-9376 once you have it. Full details on every way to reach us are on our contact page, and the broader mechanics of the service are covered on how it works.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need my inmate’s permission to text them?
In a sense, yes. BOP regulations require your inmate to add your phone number to their approved contact list before messages will go through. Once we’ve entered your contact email into their TRULINCS account, this “text approve” step takes them just moments to complete.
Can I text a federal inmate from any phone carrier?
Yes. Once your inmate is set up, you text their assigned number like normal SMS from your own phone, regardless of which carrier you use. On our end, high-volume delivery agreements with T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon mean your messages aren’t sitting in a queue before they’re delivered.
What happens if I stop paying?
Nothing bad happens automatically — there’s no auto-billing to worry about. We don’t save your card details, so service simply pauses if you don’t add more funds, and we’ll send you notices if your balance runs low so you’re never caught off guard.
Does this work for state or county facilities too?
No — ContactMeAsap serves the federal system, which runs on TRULINCS. State prisons and county jails typically use their own separate inmate communication platforms, so check with the specific facility if your loved one isn’t in federal custody.