Phone calls
Prisons in Victoria must have phones available for people in prison to keep in contact with friends, family, supports, lawyers and external complaint bodies.
Each prison will have different times and systems for making calls – prison staff should let you know what is available when you arrive.
Important:
- Phone calls are listed as a prison privilege, which means they can be taken away as punishment – for more information use the link on the left side of this page.
- Almost all phone calls from prison are recorded, with some exceptions. Recorded phone calls can be given to police and used as evidence for a criminal investigation. For more information on which phone calls cannot be recorded, use the link on the left side of this page.
Making phone calls
Friends and family cannot call you in prison – you have to call them. To call a friend or family member, you need to add them to your phone list. For more information, use the link on the left side of this page.
Unless you are calling a free line in the ARUNTA system, you need enough money in your prison account to pay for a call. Landlines are cheaper to call than mobile phones. If you don’t have enough money and urgently need to make a call (e.g. because of a family emergency), you might be able to make an emergency and welfare call – for more information, use the link on the left side of this page.
You can call someone at another prison if you have a long-standing close personal relationship with them. For more information, use the link to Inter-prison calls on the left side of this page.
How long can I call someone for?
The maximum time for an outbound phone call depends on your prison’s security category. The maximum call time for each category is:
- Minimum security: 15 minutes
- Medium security: 12 minutes
- Maximum security: 12 minutes
If your prison has multiple different security ratings, the highest level of security that exists at your prison will apply.
Receiving phone calls
You can receive a phone call from people like your lawyer, or an external complaint body like the Victorian Ombudsman. You do not need to arrange this – the lawyer or external complaint body will make an appointment with the prison to call you at a certain time.