One account here covers calls, messages and the tablet your scanned letters arrive on, so setting it up does more than open a phone line. Create your phone account in minutes.
Create your phone account in minutes
At most jails the phone account and the tablet are separate concerns. Here they are the same thing, and the tablet is also where your posted letters turn up as scans. That makes this the single most useful account to open early, and it is why we have written this page around the tablet rather than the handset.
Chautauqua runs on ViaPath Technologies throughout. The service families use is GettingOut, the visit scheduler is a ViaPath product, and the scanning box that receives your personal mail feeds the same tablets.
That is simpler than a county running three vendors, and it means one account gets you most of the way.
The county publishes GettingOut’s own four steps, and they are worth following in order.
Set up an account at gettingout.com. You are verified before you can deposit.
Make a deposit, on the site or through the mobile app. This is the step with a choice in it.
Start connecting. Once there are funds you can send messages, and the mobile apps work away from a computer.
They access content. Once funds are on their account they can use it for education, music, ebooks, movies and games as well as talking to you.
If any of that stalls, the help line is 866-516-0115.
When you deposit, you decide whose account the money sits in.
A Friends and Family account stays under your control. You keep the balance and spend it on contact with them.
An Inmate Account hands the funds to your person to use as they choose, which includes the entertainment and education content rather than only calls to you.
Neither is wrong. But families often deposit into the inmate account assuming it is all going to phone calls, then find it went on other things. Decide deliberately rather than by accident.
This is the part specific to Chautauqua.
Personal mail here does not arrive at the jail. It goes to a scanning box in Syracuse, and letters, pictures and drawings come back as colour images on your person’s tablet.
So the tablet is simultaneously the phone, the messaging app, the library and the letterbox. If your person has poor tablet access, that affects more than their entertainment, and it is a fair thing to ask about.
The county promotes video visiting alongside the tablets, booked through the same scheduling site as in person visits.
GettingOut shows its pricing once the account is attached to this facility, and that is the figure that applies.
Nothing connects until an account exists and has money on it. A family that waits to hear from somebody first usually loses the first few days to admin they could have done in advance.
Letters do not wait on any of it, and at this jail they land on the same tablet. Pigeonly sends letters and photos to the Syracuse box while you get the account open.
6 of 7 questions
ViaPath Technologies, through its GettingOut service. The same company handles the tablets, the messaging and the visit scheduling, so one account covers most of what a family needs.
Phone CallsAt gettingout.com. You create the account, get verified, then make a deposit, after which you can start sending messages. The mobile app works away from a computer. If anything stalls, the help line is 866-516-0115.
Phone CallsIt depends what you want the money used for. A Friends and Family account stays under your control and pays for contact with you. An Inmate Account gives them the balance, which they can also spend on education, music, ebooks, movies and games. Families often pick the second by accident.
Phone CallsGettingOut shows its pricing once the account is attached to this facility, and that is the figure that applies.
Phone CallsYes, and they do a lot. Calls, messages, education, music, ebooks, movies and games. They are also where your posted letters arrive, because personal mail is scanned at a box in Syracuse and delivered to the tablet as colour images.
Phone CallsYes. The county promotes video visiting alongside the tablets and it is booked through the same scheduling site as an in person visit.
Phone CallsThat is a bigger problem here than at most jails, because the tablet is also where your letters arrive. It is a fair question to ask on 716-753-4900, since without access they lose calls, messages and post at the same time.
Phone CallsConfirm the facility before funding an account.
View ArticleWhat arrives on that tablet, and how to address it.
View ArticleCommissary runs on a different vendor entirely.
View ArticleSearch for your loved one and start sending photos, letters, and messages today.
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All information on this page comes directly from official government and facility sources. How we verify information › Last verified September 22, 2026. Official source: sheriff.us/corrections ›