ByCook County Inmate Calls—All the Details in One Place
Visiting, writing letters, and calling inmates are the most efficient ways to keep in touch with your incarcerated loved ones. It’s not simple or easy, but it is crucial for their current and future situation. You should always try to maintain contact with convicts and not give up after the first obstacle you come across.
The set of rules and regulations for inmate calling can differ depending on the state or the facility. If you want to get in touch with a prisoner located in Cook County, Illinois, you will have to learn more about the specific requirements for making phone calls to prisoners in that area.
What You Should Know About Cook County Jail Inmate Phone Calls
Correctional facilities usually have an agreement with a telecommunication provider you can use to get in touch with an inmate over the phone. According to the Cook County Sheriff's Office, Cook County Jail switched from Securus Technologies to Legacy Inmate Communications in 2019.
Knowing such information is crucial because the jail won’t accept other telecommunication providers for contacting convicts. You should also know that the inmates are the ones making the calls when they get the green light to do so.
You cannot pick up your phone and dial the correctional facility’s phone number whenever you wish and expect your imprisoned friend or family member to answer. You’ll need to find out more about Cook County Jail’s specific rules.
How To Call an Inmate in Cook County Jail
When you know which telecommunication provider has an agreement with the jail, you will need to find out how their services work. Cook County Jail requires you to set up a Legacy Inmate Communications prepaid account. You can do so in two ways:
- Online
- By calling Legacy’s customer support at 800-356-8390
Prepaid calling is usually cheaper than collect calling, and you can pay for talk time in advance. Legacy won’t grant you a refund for account establishment and replenishment.
You can pay for Legacy Inmate Communications prepaid account services in four ways:
- Debit or credit card
- PayPal
- MoneyGram
- Western Union
What Are Legacy Inmate Communications’ Call Rates?
If you want to get in touch with an inmate in Cook County Jail, you should know how much Legacy’s services are going to cost you. Take a look at the rates having in mind the location factors that affect the pricing:
| Call Type | Pricing |
| Local | $0.6 per minute |
| Interstate | $0.6 per minute |
| International for Mexico and Canada | $0.8 per minute |
| Intrastate for IntraLATA and InterLATA | $0.6 per minute |
| International | $0.13 per minute |
When you set up a prepaid account with Legacy, the inmate will be able to call you immediately. In case you have any further questions about their services, you can contact Legacy’s customer care at 1-800-356-8390.
Things To Bear In Mind About Inmate Calls
All calls with inmates are recorded, unless it is a call from a representative who has acquired the right for a private phone call. If you don’t fall into this category, you should know the conversation won’t be completely private.
A phone call between an inmate and you can last up to 30 minutes. If there are many other prisoners waiting to call their loved ones, your conversation can last even less. Make sure to spend the time on the phone wisely.
You should also make a regular schedule that suits you and the inmate equally because they will be able to call you only at certain hours of the day. Prisoners are usually allowed to make phone calls between 8 a.m. and 11. p.m, so you should fit that into your schedule.
It is paramount not to speak about their case or the crime they were imprisoned for! Everything you say can be used against the inmate in court, so be careful. Breaking such rules may lead to restrictions that can deprive the inmate of their calling rights.
Can’t Afford To Call an Inmate? DoNotPay Can Help You Send Them a Letter
If you can’t afford a prepaid calling account, you should opt to write a letter to an inmate instead. DoNotPay has come up with a simple process that doesn’t involve pen and paper. If you don’t know how to address a letter to an inmate, that won’t be an obstacle since we’ll deal with that part. To send a letter to an inmate via DoNotPay, follow these steps:
- Sign in to your DoNotPay account from your
- Navigate to the Connect With an Inmate section
- Select Send a Personalized Letter
- Type the convict’s name and ID number
- Write your message in the provided field
- Add photos if you wish
You can also use one of our templates suitable for various occasions and seasons (holiday themes, for example).
DoNotPay has also made sure you get replies from your prison pen pal by checking the option Allow Replies.
When the inmate writes you a letter, they should send it to an address we’ll provide. We will digitize it and send it to you. You can check your messages in your Virtual Mailbox.
Use DoNotPay To Locate an Inmate in Any State
If you don’t know the inmate’s exact location, you won’t be able to contact them at all. The good news is that DoNotPay can help you find them in any correctional facility in the States. Our database involves state, county, federal, or ICE detention centers, so finding a prisoner won’t be a problem even if you don’t know the details like their ID number. These are the only steps you’ll need to follow:
- Access the DoNotPay prison feature
- Type the full name of the convict
- Provide the name of the state the prisoner is located in
DoNotPay will find the prisoner in no time. Once you have this essential info, you can write to prisoners, talk to them over the phone, or visit them without trouble.
DoNotPay Can Help You Tackle Administrative Issues
We have the scoop on prison telecommunication providers, such as Inmate Calling Solutions or Global Tel Link (GLT), but that’s not where our expertise ends.
If you’d like to get in touch with an inmate in federal prison, you can count on us to tell you all about rules and regulations regarding federal inmate phone calls. We can let you know if there is such a thing as a free local number for inmate calls or if call apps for inmates really work.
Open DoNotPay in a , and check other administrative tasks we can take over:
- Getting in touch with customer service reps fast and easy
- Protecting your work against copyright infringement
- Getting refunds and chargebacks from businesses
- Canceling subscriptions or memberships
- Eliminating text spam once and for all
- Getting revenge on robocalls
- Suing people and companies in small claims court
- Dealing with bills you can’t pay
- Protecting yourself and your loved ones from stalking and harassment
- Freeing yourself from spam mail forever
- Signing up for free trials
- Applying for clinical trials
- Scheduling a DMV appointment fast and easy
- Disputing traffic tickets
- Fighting speeding tickets
- Contesting parking tickets
- Finding unclaimed money under your name
- Trying new services without phone verification
- Getting in touch with your incarcerated loved ones
- Dealing with issues with credit cards