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COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- When locked up behind bars, a phone call to a loved one is more valuable than ever.

"If they don't live locally, they're out-of-state and sometimes that phone call is the only way the offender is able to communicate with family members," Paula Presley, El Paso County Sheriff's Office Detention Bureau Chief, said.

While it's a benefit the deputies at the El Paso County Jail believe is critical, it's a costly perk. Inmates have two options: pay for a calling card or make a collect call.

The first phone call with a collect call sets up an account for $25 or $50 worth of future calls and an one-time surcharge of $4.50. Long distance calls have an additional connection fee of $4.95.

Then, depending on where you call - local or long distance - the inmate's 15 minute allotted phone call costs $2.35 or $4.85 respectively.

"It's important for the public to understand that those funds are not used frivolously," Presley, said.

The jail has a total of 178 pay phones, but when there's five phones for up to 90 inmates, they can be a hot commodity.

The fees for the phone call not only pay for the service, maintenance and infrastructure, but a portion of the collect call goes towards an inmate fund that pays for clothing, beds, TVs, and mattresses.

It all comes back to the cost of calling a loved one, and while you might not expect it, there's an expense that comes with being locked up.