Phone Calls at Clinton Correctional Facility

What New York Stopped Charging For

Until 2025, a call from a New York state prison ran the way it still does in most of the country. Families opened an account with the provider, funded it, watched it drain and topped it up.

New York ended that on August 1, 2025. Every call from every state prison is free to whoever receives it. Nothing to open, nothing to fund, no rate to compare.

The state pays the provider 1.5 cents a minute under the current contract, down from 2.4. That is New York’s cost, not yours. Anyone quoting it as a price has misread the source.

The Weekly Floor

	Rule
Guaranteed allowance	Three calls of up to fifteen minutes
Credited	Saturdays
Calls beyond it	Still free, capped at thirty minutes
Window	7:00 AM to 11:00 PM, daily
Approved numbers	Up to fifteen

Once those three are used up, calls stay free. They are capped at thirty minutes instead of fifteen.

The Numbers Are His to Add

Up to fifteen approved numbers, added and managed by the person inside.

There is nothing for a family to file. No form, no registration, no call to the prison, no provider account. If your number is not working, that is a conversation with him rather than with anyone at Dannemora.

Fifteen disappears quickly across parents, children, siblings and a lawyer, so agree between you which ones matter.

One DOCCS Page Is Still Wrong

The department runs two pages about telephones and they disagree.

doccs.ny.gov/telephone-calls is current. Use it.

doccs.ny.gov/doccs-phone-system is not. It still quotes 4.8 cents and 4.3 cents a minute and instructs families to open and fund a provider account, describing a system New York retired over a year ago. It is still live, which is why families keep expecting a bill.

The statewide Family Handbook carries the same fault in its phone section. The rest of it is current.

Money Left on an Old Account

If you funded calls before August 2025, there may still be a balance there.

It is not refunded automatically. DOCCS states an unused balance can be requested back from the provider. Families who set an account up years ago and forgot about it may still be owed something.

Recording, and the Attorney Exception

Calls may be monitored and recorded, and using the phone counts as consent.

Attorney calls are privileged and handled separately, arranged through the lawyer’s office rather than by a relative.

Why This Matters More at Dannemora

Clinton visits every day, which is generous, but the prison is in the northern Adirondacks.

For a family in Albany that is a three hour drive each way. From New York City it is closer to six. Visiting monthly is a real commitment and visiting weekly is out of reach for most people, which leaves the phone doing the work in between.

Someone in APPU, the Special Housing Unit or Long-Term Protective Custody is on a shorter visiting day as well, closing at 2:30 PM. The weekly allowance above is written for general confinement, and questions about day to day access in those units go to his Offender Rehabilitation Coordinator, reachable through the prison’s main line on 518-492-2511.

When Calls Are Not Enough

Three calls a week, on his schedule, in a fifteen minute window. That leaves a lot of days.

Pigeonly fills them with letters and photos posted to P.O. Box 2001, which is the part of staying in touch a phone call cannot cover.