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The Arkansas Department of Correction and the Information Network of Arkansas have begun offering a system that enables friends and relatives of inmates to use credit cards to make deposits into inmates' prepaid phone accounts, the Information Network announced Tuesday. Previously, inmates only could receive deposits from cashier's checks, money orders or wire transfers, Janet Grard, general manager for Arkansas.gov, tells CardLine. Consumers pay a fee equal to 5% of the deposit, with a minimum of $1.50, and deposits average around $25, Grard says. Consumers save about $5 per transaction using a credit card compared with paying for money orders or cashier's checks to load the accounts, and the state saves money on data entry and check processing, she says. Grard did not disclose the amount the state saves by reducing those processes.
