Hughes Unit Phone Calls Through Securus. Register First

Registering the Number He Can Call

Registration is the gate, and until it is done the call will not connect at all.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) runs inmate calling through Securus Technologies. Before he can reach you, your number has to be registered on the system at texasprisonphone.com or on (866) 806-7804. Nothing about being newly arrived at Hughes, or being on the Visitors List, does this for you.

This is worth doing before you expect the first call, not after a failed one. Families often read the silence as a problem at the prison when the number is not set up yet.

Three things are worth knowing while you register:

Calls only go one way. He calls out; nobody calls in. The unit’s number, (254) 865-6663, reaches the prison’s staff. There is no way to be put through to him on it.

The name has to match. The name on the phone account normally has to match the ID and the billing record for that number. A mismatch is a common reason an otherwise complete registration will not verify.

Registration also makes you eligible to deposit. TDCJ only accepts trust fund deposits from people on his Visitors List or phone list, so registering for calls is often the quickest way to become eligible to send money as well.

On what it costs: TDCJ does not publish a per-minute rate for Securus calls. Confirm the current cost with Securus while you register.

Why the Call Cuts Off at 30 Minutes

Calls are capped at 30 minutes each, with a one-minute warning before the line drops. There is no monthly limit on how many minutes you use in total, so the cap is about the length of a single call, not a monthly budget.

Phones are available between 5:00 AM and midnight. Within that window, when he can get to a phone depends on his housing unit’s routine and his work or program assignment.

Some things end a call the moment they happen, and they catch people out because they look like ordinary phone behavior:

• Three-way calling terminates the call.
• Call forwarding terminates the call.
• Calls to 800 numbers, businesses, pay phones, internet calling services and international numbers are blocked.

So passing him to another relative by merging a call, or routing the prison call through a number that forwards to your mobile, will end the conversation instead of extending it. If someone else needs to speak with him, the cleaner route is to register their number separately.

The Three Ways a Call Gets Paid For

TDCJ allows three arrangements, and the difference is who gets billed.

Collect. Billed to the number receiving the call. Nothing to fund in advance, but many carriers and most mobile plans will not accept collect calls from a correctional facility.

Friends and Family Prepaid. You fund a balance attached to your own number and the cost comes out of it as he calls. This is what most families end up using, because it works with a mobile number.

Inmate debit. He pays from his own trust fund balance. Useful for reaching someone who has not set up a prepaid account.

Messages, Tablets and Video

Voice calls are not the only channel. TDCJ runs electronic messaging through JPay on inmate tablets, which is a separate account and a separate cost from the phone system.

Tablets matter more than the messaging alone suggests, because scanned mail is delivered to them. Letters and photos sent to the Dallas processing center are scanned and land on his tablet, so someone with a tablet gets mail sooner than someone waiting on printed copies.

There is also one 60-minute video visit per month, through Securus at $10 or free at a tablet kiosk. At Hughes those video sessions are scheduled alongside in-person visiting, and the unit’s video window opens at 7:00 AM on Saturdays and Sundays, an hour before in-person visits begin.