You can buy a texting plan for someone in federal prison, and you do it from your side, not theirs. You find them on ParakeetInmate (powered by InmateDB) by name or BOP register number, start the 3-day free trial or pick a plan, and pay with your own card. The inmate never handles money or a login. What they do is add one InmateDB contact in TRULINCS so their messages can reach you. Their part takes a few minutes at a terminal; everything else is yours.
What the person inside actually sees
Federal inmates send electronic messages from TRULINCS terminals inside the facility, and CorrLinks is the outside side of that same email system. Your loved one will not see a new app or a phone. They will see a contact they added, and they will type a phone number in the subject line with the message in the body.
That is the part that confuses people most. The message does not look like a text on their end. It looks like a short email with a phone number as the subject. Once they send it, it arrives on your phone as a normal text from a shared number, and you reply from your regular texting app. No app is required on your side, though you can also use the InmateDB website, the InmateDB app or Telegram if you prefer.
So when you gift a plan, you are not giving them a device or a screen. You are giving them a destination their terminal messages can reach, and a way for your replies to come back.
Set it up in the right order
The order matters, and getting it backwards is the most common reason a gifted plan sits unused for a while.
- Find them first. Search by their full name or their BOP register number, which looks like 12345-678. If you do not know it, the BOP inmate locator on bop.gov will give it to you.
- Start the trial or choose a plan. New accounts get a 3-day free trial, so you can confirm the setup works before you pay for a month.
- Tell them to add the InmateDB contact in TRULINCS. This is their step, and it cannot be done for them. Send them the name exactly as it appears so they add the right contact.
- Have them send the first message. They put your phone number in the subject line and the message in the body. Once that arrives, you can reply normally.
If you are setting this up around a surrender date, the timing is tighter and worth planning in advance. Our guide to setting up texting before self-surrender walks through that countdown.
Which plan to buy for them
There are three, and the right one depends on how much you want the plan to do beyond plain messages.
- Texting, $9.99/month. Messages are sent from a shared number, so people can reply once the inmate has texted them first. This is the straightforward choice for one or two family members.
- Texting + AI, $14.99/month. Adds AI chat with ChatGPT, Gemini and Grok, plus news, sports, weather and trivia apps. If your loved one asks about the outside world constantly, this is usually the plan families land on. Our guide to what AI chat adds to a texting plan explains what that actually looks like day to day.
- Full Access, $19.99/month. Adds a personal phone number anyone can text first, email, and 15+ more apps. Worth it when several people want to reach them without waiting to be texted first.
One honest limit: this works with federal Bureau of Prisons facilities that use CorrLinks, about 93% of federal facilities. It does not work in state prisons or county jails. Check that their facility is a federal one before you pay for anything.
How monthly renewal works when you are the one paying
The plan renews monthly on your account, charged to your card, not theirs. Nothing is deducted from their commissary or trust account, and they will not get a bill. That means the plan keeps running as long as you keep it active, which is both the convenience and the risk: it is easy to forget you are paying for something nobody is using.
A few practical habits help. Put the renewal date somewhere you will see it, especially in the first couple of months while you are still learning their routine. If money gets tight, drop to the $9.99 plan rather than cancelling outright, so their contact does not disappear mid-conversation. And if they get transferred, confirm the new facility also uses CorrLinks before the next renewal, since a move can interrupt the setup even when the plan is fine.
If several family members want to chip in, decide up front whose card the plan sits on. Two people paying for two plans for the same inmate is a common and quiet waste.
What usually goes wrong the first time
The single biggest issue is a mismatch between what you bought and what they set up. If they added the wrong contact name in TRULINCS, or added it before your account was active, their messages go nowhere and you both assume the service is broken. Fix: confirm the exact contact name with them, and make sure your trial or plan was started first.
The second is expectation about timing. How quickly they see your reply depends on when they can get to a TRULINCS terminal. It is not instant, and it is not on your schedule. Plan for conversation that moves in bursts rather than a back-and-forth chat, and do not read silence as a problem.
The third is forgetting that facility staff can monitor messages. Write as though a case manager might read it, because they can. Keep it warm and ordinary, and save anything sensitive for a visit or a letter.
Photos are a separate order and a good add-on to a gifted plan: you upload up to 10 per order and standard or glossy prints are mailed to the facility. Our guide to photos that mean the most to someone in prison is worth reading before you pick which ones.
Quick answers
Can I buy a plan without them knowing?
Yes, you can set up and pay for the plan on your own. But they still have to add the InmateDB contact in TRULINCS before anything flows, so at some point you have to tell them it exists and give them the contact name.
What happens to their messages if I stop paying?
The plan stops renewing on your account and the connection goes quiet. They are not charged and nothing is taken from their account. If you might restart later, tell them so they are not left wondering.
Does the free trial cover the whole thing?
The 3-day trial lets you confirm the setup works before you commit. Use it to get them to send that first message, so you know the contact is right before the first charge lands.
If you are ready to start, the first step is finding them. Find your loved one by name or register number, and you can have the plan running before their next trip to a terminal.