Following arrest and the booking process, a person will usually be allowed to use a jail telephone to call a lawyer, a bail bondsman, and a relative or other person. There is no Constitutional right to make these telephone calls following arrest and incarceration and the ability to make such phone calls is usually governed by state law or by the jail’s policy.

For example, some states provide by statute that an arrested person is entitled to make at least three telephone calls at no expense if the calls are completed to telephone numbers within the local calling area, or at the person’s own expense if outside the local calling area. Some states require that these telephone calls be permitted within three hours following arrest if possible—and in some states, within one hour. And some states more generally require that an arrested person be allowed to use the telephone within a reasonable time following arrest.

Laws regarding an arrested person’s ability to make telephone calls vary from state to state and are generally located in a state’s statutes or in the state’s rules of criminal procedure.

In Minnesota, the right of an arrested person to make telephone calls after being booked is governed by state statutes and local jail policies. Minnesota Statute 629.73 requires that an individual who has been arrested and detained must be allowed to make a reasonable number of telephone calls to a lawyer, a bail bondsman, and a relative or another person as soon as reasonably possible after arrival at the first place of detention. This right is to be exercised within a reasonable time after booking, which is typically interpreted to mean within a few hours. The statute does not specify a constitutional right to these calls, but it does establish a statutory right for the detained individual to communicate with parties who can assist in securing their release or providing legal representation. The exact number of calls and the timeframe for making them may vary depending on the specific policies of the jail or detention facility.