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Maria1289
 

Hey All,

I'm new to this and I have a penpal in Ohio but I live in Canada. Does anyone know how I can send a inmate a package or money transfer? Every site I find does not allow anyone outside of US to send things.

Please help!! 

Thanks !

 
Maria1289

My PP is at the Correctional & Rehabilitation Center.

That's awesome. A couple hours? Is that over the phone? I use JPAY and the messages take atleast a day to send. There's one msg my PP is retyping but I still have not received it for 4 days. I also speak to my PP once a day for 15 minutes. Wish there was a quicker way to send messages.

 
Farfromhome

Which facility is he at? Is it State prison?

We speak at least once a day. Sometimes it's for hours!

 

 
Maria1289

THANK YOU! For all your help and info. How often do you speak to your PP?

 
Maria1289

 

Hey there,

I appreciate all the information you provided me! It cleared up things for me. So thank you!

What's weird is that my PP's Ohio prisons website said they use GTL but when I try to add him as a contact on GTL connect his prison is not listed under Ohio.

I wonder why... 

 

 
Farfromhome

If you have an Ohio number then it's about $1 per 15mins. As ST4s states, you'll need to sign up to GTL (ConnectNetwork app) and add money on to the account. 
To too up the phone with GTL you do not need a US based card. You only need a US based card with them for Inmate Funding

 
ST4s

Hi Meez, well, I can tell you that Ohio uses ConnectNetwork/GTL for the funds transfer thing, and there's a little button on my app to request a call from my Ohio bud... which leads me to believe that Ohio uses ConnectNetwork/GTL for phone services. For my buds in Federal and Colorado, GTL has what they call an advance pay account for phone calls, kind of like collect but prepaid, where the person who puts money on it is me. I've been using that for years for Federal and Colorado, but not for Ohio (my bud there calls me directly). I'd hazard a guess it's available though. Maybe noodle around on their website and see what's available to you? Generally, calls are a few bucks for fifteen minutes, and I've noticed whenever my advance pay account balance dips below $10, any incoming call begins with a robot asking for money, though the call goes through. Good luck!

 
Maria1289

Thanks for clarifying how this works!! I appreciate it! 
 

I was also wondering if you knew the process of collect calls. Or have you used Text now app as my PP has called me on there and I have a ohio area code. I wonder how much a 15 min call costs my PP.  I purchased credits thinking I could do collect calls.. I don't want my PP to pay for these calls but I'm in Canada. When he tried calling me again on Textnow app if no longer worked. This is frusterating. 

Thanks in advance! 

 
Farfromhome

You have to use a US card to send funds to an inmate and also be on their visitation list.

If I remember correctly, you also need a US card to send packages through all of the sites they have available but I'm not 100% sure on that. It's definitely the case with Access Securepak and I think it's the case with Union Supply too. 

 
ST4s

Hi Meez, I can’t say if it’s an international thing or not, but only approved or tentatively approved visitors may send funds to an inmate in the ORDC. Further info is here.

I haven’t tried sending a package to my bud in Ohio (via Union Supply Direct? Walkenhorst’s?) so I can’t help you on that either. Maybe somebody else has better info?

Maybe it's worth sending in a visitor application! You never know…

Good luck :-)