Every call from a housing unit phone here is collect, so the cost lands on whoever picks up rather than on a balance somebody funded in advance. Create your phone account in minutes.
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Chemung runs its phones on an older model than most of the New York jails we cover, and that has one big consequence: nobody needs to set up and fund an account before the first call can happen. It also means the bill arrives on your side. Separately, this jail gives everyone a tablet at admission, which is unusually generous for a county jail of 262 beds.
General population can use the telephones in the housing unit areas between 0800 and 2130 hours, daily. In plain terms that is 8 AM to 9:30 PM, every day of the week.
Put that next to the visiting schedule and the contrast is stark. Visiting is two mornings a week ending at 1:15 PM. The phones are open thirteen and a half hours a day, seven days a week, including the weekend when there is no visiting at all.
For a family that cannot get to Elmira on a Monday or Friday morning, the phone is not the backup. It is the main line of contact, and it is worth treating that way.
The county states it plainly: all housing unit telephones are completed by collect call.
That has two real consequences.
Nothing has to be set up first. There is no account to open and no balance to fund before your person can ring you. On day one, they can call, and you can accept. At jails running prepaid accounts, families often lose the first several days to admin.
The cost lands on you when you accept. A collect call is billed to the number that takes it, and collect rates from correctional facilities have historically been high. Nobody is topping up a balance they can watch, so the bill turns up later.
If a number cannot receive collect calls, and plenty of mobile plans cannot, calls to it fail without ringing. That is the most common reason a family sits waiting for a call that never comes.
The phones are maintained by ViaPath Technologies, and the county links out to viapath.com for further information.
The vendor side is where billing questions and blocked number problems get resolved. The jail switchboard cannot lift a block or explain a charge on your phone bill, because neither of those is the jail’s to fix.
This is the part that sets Chemung apart. At admission to the facility, everyone is issued a tablet.
The county says they can be used for legal materials, educational materials and courses, video visitation, phone capability, and music and video streaming.
That is a wide set for a county jail this size, and video visitation on it is the most interesting piece for anyone who cannot make a Monday or Friday morning.
The phones cost nothing to set up but the first call still has to come from their side, and somebody newly booked may not have your number memorised. A letter with your phone number in it is the oldest fix for that problem and it still works. Pigeonly gets letters and photos to 211 William Street while you wait for the phone to ring.
6 of 6 questions
General population can use the housing unit telephones between 8 AM and 9:30 PM, daily. That is a thirteen and a half hour window seven days a week, which is far wider than the two morning visiting sessions.
Phone CallsNo. All housing unit telephones are completed by collect call, so there is no prepaid account to open and no balance to fund before your person can ring you. That is one of the few advantages of the older collect model.
Phone CallsCollect calls are billed to the number that accepts them, through the vendor and your carrier. ViaPath Technologies, which maintains the phones, is the side that handles billing questions.
Phone CallsThe most likely reason is that your number cannot accept collect calls. Many mobile plans cannot, and the call fails without telling either side why. ViaPath Technologies is the side that sorts that out, since the jail cannot change how your carrier handles collect billing.
Phone CallsNo. The jail number, 607-737-2934, reaches staff rather than somebody in custody. Calls have to start on their side.
Phone CallsEveryone is issued one at admission. The county says they carry legal materials, educational materials and courses, video visitation, phone capability, and music and video streaming. That is a broad set for a county jail holding 262 people.
Phone CallsConfirm the facility before you wait on a call.
View ArticleA letter with your number in it is the oldest fix there is.
View ArticleCollect calls are billed to you, not to the commissary account.
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All information on this page comes directly from official government and facility sources. How we verify information › Last verified September 21, 2026. Official source: chemungcountyny.gov/1470/Phone-an-Incarcerated-Individual ›