Spartanburg County Detention Facility

Inmate Telephone Services


I. The Spartanburg County Detention Facility provides inmates access to telephone services through a contractual relationship with a third party vendor which currently is Pay-tel Communications, Inc., located in Greensboro, North Carolina. All calls are recorded and subject to monitoring by detention facility staff due to security concerns including (i) protecting victims and potential witnesses from harassing telephone calls, (ii) reducing opportunities for continued criminal activities from inside the jail, including threats to others, and (iii) helping reduce the potential for escape. Inmates are not permitted access to cell phones or to the jail's business telephones.

II. Upon admission into the facility following an individual's arrest, he/she is permitted to make a free local telephone call to inform family members, friends, and/or attorneys that he/she has been arrested. All telephone calls after the initial free telephone call have to be made collect. Should an individual become uncooperative and/or belligerent, this shall be just cause for termination of this privilege until such time as the inmate cooperates with the jail staff. In addition, such telephone calls can be reasonably delayed or precluded for a compelling governmental reason.

III. If an individual is not able to make bond and/or be released from custody, he/she will have daily access to a telephone up to two times daily, but no less than once per week; provided he/she abides by the facility's rules; cooperates with the jail staff; and otherwise behaves in a socially acceptable manner. Access to the telephone is not a right, but rather a privilege, and as such, this privilege may be regulated and/or terminated accordingly. Inmates with good behavior get greater access to the telephone. Inmates with bad behavior get less access to the telephone. Telephone schedules are posted in each housing unit designating times that an inmate has access to the telephone.

IV. The jail's vendor, Pay-tel Communications Inc., will allow an inmate's first collect telephone call to go through free. After that, anyone wishing to accept telephone calls from an inmate will have to contact Pay-tel directly and establish an account with them. Do not call the jail as we are unable to assist you. You can contact Pay-tel as follows:

Pay-tel Communications
P.O. Box 19290
Greensboro, North Carolina 27419
Telephone: 1-800-729-8355
Fax: 1-800-776-8423
www.paytel.com/paymentoptions.html

V. Once you have established an account, you can receive collect calls from an inmate. As the recipient of the call, if you agree to accept the call, you are responsible for payment of the call. If you do not want someone from the jail calling you, DO NOT ACCEPT THE CALL and you will not be charged. All telephone calls from the jail are identified as such along with the caller's name. As an alternative to accepting collect calls, pre-paid phone cards are sold to the inmates through the jail's commissary/canteen in denominations of $10.00 and $20.00. Using his/her assigned pin-code; an inmate may use a pre-paid phone card to make a telephone call in lieu of calling collect. Call rates are as follows:

  1. All local calls are $1.20 including all taxes and fees. Local calls include Spartanburg, Chesnee, Cowpens, Enoree, Inman, Lyman, Pacolet, and Woodruff. All other calls within South Carolina are long distance.

  2. The cost of long distance within South Carolina is $2.50 plus $.33 cents per minute including all taxes and fees.

  3. The cost of calls from South Carolina to all other states within the continental United States is $2.85 plus $.40 cents per minute including all taxes and fees.

  4. All calls to international cities are $.95 cents per minute including all taxes and fees.

VI. If you receive a call from an inmate, and you are threatened or harassed in any way, the best option is not to accept anymore such calls. However, if this does happen to you, you should file a report with your local law enforcement agency who can investigate to determine whether criminal prosecution should be initiated. As previously noted, all calls are recorded, and law enforcement personnel can access such information through the jail. In addition, the jail staff can, upon request, "block" an inmate from calling a specific telephone number with certain limitations which may or may not eliminate any such future calls. However, if the jail staff blocks a number, the jail staff cannot unblock the number at a later date.