--- title: "How to Text Inmates Securely: What Actually Works" slug: "text-inmates-securely" description: "Compare your options for texting an inmate securely, what each really costs, and what to expect." canonical: "https://bestinmatetextingapp.com/text-inmates-securely/" markdown_url: "https://bestinmatetextingapp.com/text-inmates-securely.md" type: "blog" category: "Post" published_at: "2026-07-07T04:26:24+00:00" updated_at: "2026-10-08T16:44:22+00:00" robots: "index,follow" --- # How to Text Inmates Securely: What Actually Works If you've Googled "text inmates securely" you're probably staring at a confusing mix of apps, websites, and facility rules. You want to send a message to someone inside, you want it to reach them, and you don't want your personal info floating around in some sketchy system. Let me compare the two main ways families do this — official facility messaging systems and third-party services — so you can decide which one actually fits your situation. ## Option 1: The facility's own messaging system Most jails and prisons in the U.S. and Canada now have a contracted messaging platform. You sign up, pay per message or a monthly fee, and your text gets printed or delivered to a tablet inside. These systems are secure in the sense that the facility controls them. Your messages are monitored, stored, and sometimes censored. That's not optional — it's the reality of correctional communication. The big downside is you're locked into whatever vendor your loved one's facility uses. If they switch vendors, you start over. The interfaces are often clunky, and customer support is usually a phone number with long hold times. Cost varies widely: some charge per message (10-30 cents), some per minute of "e-messaging," and some have monthly subscriptions that run $15 to $30 per inmate. You don't get a free trial. What usually goes wrong the first time: you sign up, pay, send a message, and it sits in "pending" for hours or days. You check the website and there's no clear reason. The inmate may not get notified until they log into their tablet, which they might only do once a day. You assume it's broken. Usually it's just slow. ## Option 2: Third-party services like InmateDB Third-party services work differently. They are not tied to a single facility. You sign up once, and you can send messages, photos, and letters to an inmate regardless of where they are housed — as long as the facility allows mail and the inmate has access to the service. InmateDB, for example, lets you send messages online, and inmates can text phone numbers in the U.S. and Canada. They also get AI chat, email, news, lessons, trivia, and a private journal. The key difference: you are not paying per message to a facility vendor. You pay a flat monthly fee per inmate, with plans from $9.99 and a 3-day free trial. That trial is worth using because it lets you test whether your inmate actually receives and replies before you commit. The interface is a lot cleaner than most facility systems. You type a message on a computer or phone, hit send, and it goes to the inmate's account. They reply, and you get a notification. What usually goes wrong the first time: you send a message and don't hear back for a day. You worry it didn't go through. But the inmate may just not have checked their account yet. The reply time depends on them, not the service. The other common hiccup is the inmate's facility doesn't allow tablets or digital communication at all. In that case, no third-party service will work — you have to use regular mail or the facility's phone system. ## Which one is more secure? Both options are monitored. If you need absolute privacy, you cannot get it through any electronic system that touches a correctional facility. All messages are read by staff. That's the law, and any service that claims otherwise is lying or will get shut down. What "secure" means in practice is: your personal information is protected from other users and from the public internet. Facility systems are generally secure in that sense because they are closed networks. Third-party services like InmateDB use standard encryption for transmission and storage. Neither is more or less secure in a meaningful way for everyday family communication. The real question is whether the service is legitimate and not a scam. Stick with known names. If a service asks for your Social Security number or demands payment in gift cards, run. ## Will the inmate actually get the message? This is the worry that keeps people up at night. With facility systems, the message goes into a queue and is printed or delivered to the inmate's tablet. It usually arrives within a few hours to a day, but some facilities batch-process messages once or twice a day. With third-party services, the inmate has to have an account and log in. If they don't use it regularly, your message sits unread. That's not the service's fault, but it's frustrating. One thing that helps: both systems usually send a confirmation to you when the inmate reads the message. Look for that. If you don't see a read receipt within 48 hours, send a follow-up through a different channel — like a phone call or a physical letter — to ask them to check their messages. ## Cost comparison in real terms Let's say you send 30 messages a month back and forth with your inmate. With a facility vendor charging 25 cents per message, that's $7.50 in sending costs, plus any reply costs if the inmate pays per message from their account. Many facilities charge inmates 10-15 cents per reply, which comes out of their commissary. That adds up fast. InmateDB plans run $9.99, $14.99 or $19.99 a month, with no per-message charges for you or the inmate. If you message often, a flat plan is usually cheaper than paying per message. If you only send a few messages a week, a per-message system at a state or county facility might cost less, but InmateDB only covers federal prisons anyway, and you'd lose the free trial and extras like printed photos and AI chat. ## Where to start If you're trying to text inmates securely for the first time, here is the honest order of operations: First, check where your person is held. Call the inmate or look up the facility's website. If they're in a state prison or county jail with a specific vendor, you'll need to use that. If they're in a federal prison, start with a free trial of [InmateDB](https://inmatedb.com). The 3-day trial costs nothing, and you'll know within a week whether it works for your situation. If the inmate doesn't text you during the trial, cancel before you're charged. No harm done. If it works, you've got a reliable way to stay in touch that doesn't nickel-and-dime you per message. Either way, you'll be texting securely, and more importantly, actually connecting.