Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery made the following announcement today:
Due to new regulations being put in place by the Federal Communications Commission that begin on April 1, 2025, the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office has determined that it will no longer be feasible to keep and maintain the inmate phone system in use at the Baxter County Detention Center. An inmate phone system is a means of communication that may be provided for inmates at a detention facility, but it is not required to be provided by law.
Therefore, on March 30, 2025, the current inmate phone system (SECURUS) will become non-operational. Any inmates or other persons who have purchased pre-paid time for use with this system will need to use up that time by March 30th.
In order to reduce the impact of the removal of the inmate phone system, the Sheriff’s Office will be offering and providing additional means of communication and access to information. These will include additional in-person visitation dates and/or times, to be announced later, as well as more frequent local radio broadcasts to inmates of local news and community information.
We regret that the Federal government took this step last year as we know this will place a hardship on families. If at such time the Federal Communications Commission reverses their adverse regulations, the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office will revisit the feasibility of reimplementing the inmate phone system.
Sheriff John Montgomery