I have a client who runs a telephone service for incarcerated persons. Because the inmates cannot call cell phones collect, she has set herself up as a provider so that an inmate calls her landline, then is able to "forward" the call to the inmates' loved ones who own cell phones rather than landlines. I can't find a NAICS code that is this drilled down, so do I just use 517919? This type of client is a first for us. Thanks!

I've looked up every possible cenario for this type of service and it looks like you'll need to use 517919 code...That's my opinion...

Yay, thanks!!!

I do not want you to be the no officer.



but

Is there a legal reason that the inmates can not call a cellphone?
And is your customer in violation of it?

Thanks for the concern; I actually looked into this initially because I thought she WAS in violation. After speaking with several people in law inforcement in the state she's in, I came to find out this is common there and as long as they have the proof of business to back it up, it's fine. She's even got the business its own TIN, and we completed CIP, so she's okay. Her transactions are all checks and money orders from people that list their phone numbers at the bottom, and the amounts are small (less than $30). When I did reverse lookups on the numbers on the money orders and checks, every single one of them was a cell phone.

We're still monitoring the account for weirdness, however, because Googling resulted in lots of ripoff reports for these types of providers.

Oh, and I don't know the legal reason why inmates can't call cell numbers, but it's posted on several of the jail/prison websites that it's not allowed.

I have read that cell phones cannot get collect calls and that is the main way inmates are allowed to call out. I have never tried it with a cell phone so cannot confirm.

Kaybee, I believe you're right! I just found something on my cell phone account that mentioned in order to accept collect calls you must have a pre-paid account set up or go through an authorized phone transfer service.

My thought process was that in some states victims of domestic abuse are given cellphones and I do not think that they would like a call from the inmate that they put in jail.

Ah, I see what you're saying. No, the owner of the cell phone is the one who requests the pre-paid plan, not the inmate. That way, those that have loved ones in jail can still communicate without having a landline. This way, the non-incarcerated person sets up the plan with the telephone service, then communicates the service's landline number to the inmate to call, then the inmate must give the cell number to the service provider to make the call transfer.