Some prisons in England and Wales have a telephone installed in the cell. Many do not, and published policy gives no figure either way. Where one exists, it is a fixed prison phone running on the same PINphone system as the wing phones: outgoing calls only, to numbers already submitted and checked, recorded and monitored. It is not a mobile. A mobile in prison is a separate criminal offence under the Prison Act 1952 (s.40D). An in-cell phone changes when your partner can ring you, not what the call costs. The rate is set by the number being rung. Since 1 April 2025 a call to a UK landline is charged at 2.48p a minute on weekdays; a call to a mobile is 5.5p a minute (Inside Time, FOI to the Ministry of Justice, 14 July 2025).
Do prisons in England and Wales have phones in cells?
Some do. Some do not, and the honest answer is that it depends on the prison your partner is in, not on a national rule you can look up.
What is set nationally is access, not hardware. The prison rules for England and Wales state that "the time prisoners have access to the PINphone system must not normally be less than two hours each day" (PSI 49/2011, reissued 27 August 2026). That minimum applies whether the phone is on the landing or in the cell.
The practical difference is queueing. A wing phone is shared, so calls happen in a window and often with someone waiting behind. A phone in the cell removes the queue, which usually means shorter calls more often rather than longer ones. If you want the mechanics of the account behind it — the PIN, the credit, the number list — that is how the PIN phone system works.
Is an in-cell phone the same as a mobile?
No, and the distinction matters more than anything else on this page.
An in-cell phone is prison equipment, installed by the prison and wired into the PINphone system. Your partner logs in with a PIN, the call goes to a number already on their approved list, and the call is recorded and monitored like any other. It does not take incoming calls. The policy is blunt about this: "The PINphone system does not accept incoming calls" (PSI 49/2011, reissued 27 August 2026). You cannot ring in. You wait.
A mobile is contraband. It is not a version of the same thing with fewer rules; it is a criminal offence, and nothing on this site will help anyone keep one.
If the difference between the two is still blurred for you, the system diagram is the fastest way to see it.
What happens if someone is caught with a mobile phone in prison?
Possession of a mobile phone in prison is a distinct criminal offence in its own right, under section 40D of the Prison Act 1952. It sits outside the prison's internal discipline system, which means it can be dealt with as a criminal matter rather than only as a rule broken inside.
That is worth saying plainly to a family who has been told, by someone on a visit, that "everyone has one". The consequences land on the person you are trying to support, and they do not stop at the phone being taken away.
Every legitimate route runs through the prison's own system: the numbers list, the PIN, the credit. Slow, recorded, limited — and the only one that does not make things worse.
Does an in-cell phone make calls cheaper?
No. The price of a call is set by the number being rung, not by where the handset sits.
This is the single most common misunderstanding we see. A family hears that the prison has installed in-cell phones and assumes a new, cheaper arrangement came with them. The tariff did not change. What changes the cost is whether the number on the other end is a mobile or a landline.
Here is what the same credit buys, by destination, on the rates in force since 1 April 2025 (Inside Time, FOI to the Ministry of Justice, 14 July 2025):
| Number they ring | Weekday rate | Weekend rate |
|---|---|---|
| UK landline | 2.48p a minute | 2.2p a minute |
| UK mainland mobile | 5.5p a minute | 3.6p a minute |
Read the first column, not the handset. A weekday call to your mobile costs your partner roughly twice what the same call to a landline would cost, out of credit they pay for themselves and cannot top up at will.
That gap is the whole reason call diversion exists. You take a real 01 or 02 landline number, regulated by Ofcom, and it forwards to your mobile. The person in prison rings the landline number and is charged at the landline rate. The same credit stretches to roughly double the minutes.
It is not a loophole and it is not invisible. The number has to be submitted through the prison's normal process for adding a number, and the prison decides. It can refuse. Calls carry on being recorded and monitored exactly as before. The only thing that changes is the rate the call is charged at — and that change only holds if you are honest with the prison about the number you are putting forward.
If the arithmetic is what you are stuck on, this is it worked through in minutes.
Who can they ring from an in-cell phone?
None of the above changes by establishment type. PSI 49/2011 applies across prisons in England and Wales, the PINphone system still takes no incoming calls, and the tariff is still attached to the type of number being rung rather than to the prison, the wing or the handset. Scotland and Northern Ireland are outside all of this — they run separate contracts at their own rates, and nothing on this page describes them. For anything specific to the establishment your partner is in — phone access hours, whether cells have phones, how numbers are submitted — the prison's own switchboard is the only reliable answer.
Only numbers on their approved list, and the list has limits. Prisoners can hold a set number of social contacts and a separate allowance for legal contacts, with a further allowance where they are involved in litigation; above the overall cap it becomes a matter for the governor's discretion. The numbers sit in section 6.13 of PSI 49/2011, and the prison holding your partner will confirm their current allowance.
Adding you means giving your name, your number and your relationship. The prison checks it. Nothing about an in-cell phone shortens or bypasses that step.
Every call is recorded, and you will hear it. A message plays at the start of each one — around 20 seconds in England, around 40 in Wales, where it repeats in Welsh. The Prisoners' Families Helpline is direct about it: "It will play every time you receive a call." (Pact, published 12 April 2022, updated September 2022). If that unsettled you the first time, read whether calls are recorded before your next call. The hours side of it — the two-hour minimum and how it plays out day to day — is covered in when they can call.
If you have got this far and the mechanism makes sense, the last question is what it costs.
Frequently asked questions
Can I ring my partner on their in-cell phone?
No. The PINphone system "does not accept incoming calls" (PSI 49/2011, reissued 27 August 2026). A phone in the cell does not change that. Calls go one way, from them to you, and you cannot ring in — not on a normal day and not in an emergency. For urgent messages, families are directed to contact the prison itself.
Does an in-cell phone mean they can call whenever they want?
No. Access is bounded by the regime and by credit. Policy sets a floor, not a ceiling: access to the PINphone system "must not normally be less than two hours each day" (PSI 49/2011). Beyond that, every minute is paid for out of their own limited credit at the rates above, which is why the type of number they ring matters so much.
Does a diversion number work from an in-cell phone?
It works the same way from any prison phone in the UK, because the rate follows the number being rung. The number still has to be submitted through the prison's normal process, the prison still decides whether to allow it, and the call is still recorded. Published HMPPS policy directs prisons to restrict numbers linked to diversion services, so nobody can promise you it will be accepted.
Do the rates change if the prison is in Wales?
The tariffs published by Inside Time on 14 July 2025, in force since 1 April 2025, cover England and Wales. What differs in Wales is the pre-call message, which runs to around 40 seconds because it repeats in Welsh.
Ask the prison whether the cells have phones; assume nothing about the price until you know which number is being rung.