New York stopped charging for prison calls in August 2025, so a family waiting on a first call home has nothing to set up beforehand. Set up the rest of your contact in minutes.
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A lot of families reach this page waiting for a first call from someone who has just entered the state system, because Auburn takes intake from ten counties. The good news is that there is nothing to arrange in advance. New York made every call from every state prison free on August 1, 2025, so there is no account to open, no balance to fund and no per-minute rate to work out.
If someone has just been received into state custody at Auburn, this is probably why you are here.
There is nothing you need to do first. No account to open, no card to register, no number to submit. New York ended charging for prison calls on August 1, 2025 and, in DOCCS’s own words, a provider account is no longer needed.
The list of numbers a person can call is built by them, from the inside. So the first call comes when it comes, and your job is to answer it.
This is specific to Auburn and worth knowing if the first call has not arrived.
New York names two prisons as holding transit units: Auburn and Sing Sing.
The statewide Family Handbook draws a distinction when describing the call a newly arrived person is allowed to make. The standard procedure does not apply to someone in transit status, but it does apply to people in the transit units at Auburn and Sing Sing.
The practical read: someone genuinely in transit somewhere in the system may not get that call, but someone in Auburn’s transit unit should. If nothing has come after a reasonable wait, check the lookup first to see where they actually are, rather than assuming the worst.
| Rule | |
|---|---|
| Guaranteed weekly allowance | Three calls of up to fifteen minutes |
| Credited | Saturdays |
| Calls after the allowance | Up to thirty minutes |
| Window | 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM daily |
| Approved numbers | Up to fifteen |
The three calls credited each Saturday are the floor. Calls beyond them are still free, under the thirty minute cap.
Up to fifteen approved numbers, added and maintained by the person inside.
Nothing for a family to file. No form, no registration, no call to make to the prison, no account with the provider. If your number is not connecting, that conversation is with them.
For someone newly arrived, getting your number onto that list is one of the first things they will do, and it may take a few days.
The department runs two pages about phones and they contradict each other.
doccs.ny.gov/telephone-calls is current. Use it.
doccs.ny.gov/doccs-phone-system is not. It still advertises 4.8 cents and 4.3 cents a minute and tells families to open and fund a provider account. It describes a system New York retired more than a year ago, and it is still live, which is why families arrive expecting a bill.
The statewide Family Handbook has the same fault in its phone section. The rest of that document is current and genuinely useful, and its transit unit note is quoted above.
Money left on a prepaid account from before August 2025 is not returned automatically.
You have to ask. DOCCS states an unused balance can be refunded on request from the provider. Anyone who funded an account for a previous sentence and forgot about it may still be holding money.
Calls may be monitored and recorded, and using the phone is treated as consent.
Attorney calls are privileged and handled separately. DOCCS publishes no family-facing process for requesting that a number be excluded from recording, so a lawyer’s office arranges that rather than a relative.
Auburn runs a Special Housing Unit and a Residential Rehabilitation Unit, and at Mental Health Service Level 1 it also operates an Intermediate Care Program, a Transitional Intermediate Care Program and a Residential Crisis Treatment Program.
The statewide allowance above is written for general confinement. DOCCS does not publish how phone access works in each of those units.
If calls stop and the lookup shows no move, ask through the person’s Offender Rehabilitation Coordinator rather than assuming the allowance has been taken away.
6 of 7 questions
Nothing. New York made all state prison calls free to families on August 1, 2025. There is no per-minute rate, no account to open and no balance to fund. Any page quoting 4.8 or 4.3 cents a minute is describing a system the state retired.
Phone CallsNo. Since calls became free there is no family account, no card to register and no number to submit. The person inside builds their own list of up to fifteen approved numbers, so getting your number onto it is something they do, usually within the first few days.
Phone CallsCheck where they actually are first. Auburn holds one of only two transit units New York names, alongside Sing Sing, and the statewide Family Handbook distinguishes transit status from the transit units when describing the call a newly arrived person may make. Someone in transit elsewhere in the system may not get that call yet.
Phone CallsThree calls of up to fifteen minutes are credited every Saturday as a guaranteed allowance, and calls after those are still free but capped at thirty minutes. The window runs 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM daily, across up to fifteen approved numbers.
Phone CallsYes, if you ask. DOCCS states unused balances can be refunded on request to the provider. Nothing comes back automatically, so anyone who funded an account for an earlier sentence may still be holding a balance they can claim.
Phone CallsCalls may be monitored and recorded and using the phone is treated as consent. Attorney calls are privileged and handled separately. New York publishes no family-facing route to have a number excluded, so a lawyer's office arranges that rather than a relative.
Phone CallsProbably, though DOCCS does not publish the detail. Auburn runs a Special Housing Unit, a Residential Rehabilitation Unit, an Intermediate Care Program and a Residential Crisis Treatment Program, and the statewide allowance is written for general confinement. Ask through their Offender Rehabilitation Coordinator.
Phone CallsTen counties at intake, and a transit unit.
View ArticleFour letter groups, and a guaranteed three hour visit.
View ArticleJPay, a Miami lockbox, and the slip that goes with it.
View ArticleBox 618 in 13021, not State Street in 13024.
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All information on this page comes directly from official government and facility sources. How we verify information › Last verified September 16, 2026.