Alaska Prison Communication Directory

Alaska's correctional system presents challenges unlike any other state. The Alaska Department of Corrections operates prisons and correctional centers primarily in the Anchorage area and in Fairbanks, but the state's geography means that Alaska Native communities in remote villages are often hundreds of miles from the nearest road, let alone a correctional facility. Alaska uses boroughs and census-designated areas instead of counties, and many of these regions have no permanent road connection to the rest of the state. The Anchorage area handles the majority of the state's corrections activity, with Goose Creek Correctional Center in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and the Anchorage Correctional Complex serving the largest populations.

JPay is the primary platform for Alaska Department of Corrections state facilities, supporting messaging, money transfer, and photo sharing. Securus and GTL provide phone and video services at correctional facilities across the state. One aspect of Alaska's correctional system that families sometimes do not expect is that due to capacity constraints, the Alaska DOC has historically housed some state inmates at private correctional facilities on the US mainland. A family in Anchorage trying to reach a loved one may find that the person is being held in Arizona or another mainland state rather than in Alaska, which changes which provider and which account setup applies entirely.

Alaska families navigating inmate communication face a combination of challenges that does not exist anywhere else: extreme geographic distances within the state, the real possibility that their family member is being held in an out-of-state mainland facility, and a correctional system that serves both urban Anchorage residents and remote Alaska Native communities simultaneously. This directory provides facility and provider information for Alaska so families can identify the correct communication setup regardless of whether their family member is in an Alaska state facility or a mainland private institution.