Yes. An Engine Number is a local Australian phone number that receives calls and connects them to your mobile. Owning one is legal, using one is legal, and giving one to your loved one in prison to add to their approved contact list is legal. What matters is each state’s corrections rules about how prison calls work — so below we quote the actual acts, regulations and policies, state by state, and show how our service is engineered to satisfy them.
Engine Numbers has operated continuously and openly since 2004 — more than 30 million calls connected for over 100,000 Australian families, every number through the same prison-approved contact process as any other number.
How Prison Call Rules Work in Australia
- An Act of Parliament gives corrections authorities their powers — for example the Corrections Act 1986 (Vic) and the Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Act 1999 (NSW).
- Regulations under that Act set the framework for inmate communications — the Corrections Regulations 2019 (Vic) and the Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Regulation 2014 (NSW), Division 7 of which governs inmate telephone use (clauses 119–120).
- Operational policy sets the day-to-day rules: in Victoria, Commissioner’s Requirement 4.2.1; in NSW, the Custodial Operations Policy and Procedures (COPP) 08.02. These are the documents that decide what a number on an inmate’s list may and may not do.
Victoria — What the Rules Say
Source: Corrections Victoria, CR 4.2.1 · Corrections Regulations 2019
Commissioner’s Requirement 4.2.1 sets out the two prohibitions that matter, in plain words:
“Prisoners are not permitted to participate in diverted telephone calls. Disciplinary action may be initiated if prisoners are detected participating in a diverted call.”— Commissioner’s Requirement 4.2.1, Corrections Victoria (v17, April 2023)
“With the exception of Legal Calls, prisoners are not permitted to participate in conference calls.”— Commissioner’s Requirement 4.2.1, Corrections Victoria (v17, April 2023)
The same Requirement also permits mobile numbers on a prisoner’s approved list, caps the list at 20 private numbers, and requires the prison itself to verify each number by calling it to confirm the owner “agrees to accept calls from the prisoner”. Here is how our service is engineered against each requirement:
The requirement
No diverted telephone calls — a number must answer where the prison verified it answers.
How we are engineered for it
Every Engine Number has a fixed answering point. It cannot be redirected, forwarded or changed. Changing where calls answer requires a new number — which must go back onto the prisoner’s approved list and through the prison’s own verification call again. The endpoint can never move without the facility knowing.
The requirement
No conference calls (legal calls excepted).
How we are engineered for it
Engine Numbers has no conference or three-way calling capability. A call connects one inmate to one verified answering point. There is nothing to conference.
The requirement
Every number verified and approved by the prison before use.
How we are engineered for it
Your Engine Number is submitted through the facility’s standard approval process like any other number — the prison calls it, confirms who answers and that they accept calls, and only then is it active on the list. We also monitor for misuse on our side.
New South Wales — What the Rules Say
Source: Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Regulation 2014 · Corrective Services NSW, COPP 08.02 (PDF)
Clause 119 of the Regulation provides that an inmate must not make a telephone call without the permission of an authorised officer, and clause 119B provides for monitoring and recording. The operational rules sit in COPP 08.02, and since its December 2025 update it deals expressly with third-party call management services:
“The use of third-party call management services will be prohibited for use by inmates in CSNSW Correctional Centres.”— COPP 08.02 Inmate telephones, Corrective Services NSW (v1.14, 18 December 2025)
The policy explains the concern behind the rule: such numbers “allow calls to be forwarded to another number” and “can be changed at any time without CSNSW knowledge”. Neither is true of an Engine Number — and the prohibition is directed at third-party call management services, which we are not:
Engine Numbers is a registered Australian carriage service provider — a primary service provider in our own right, not a third-party call management service. Every Engine Number has a permanently fixed answering point: it cannot be forwarded, redirected or changed. Moving the answering point requires a new number, submitted back through CSNSW’s own contact-approval process — so a number always answers exactly where the facility verified it answers, and the risk named in COPP 08.02 cannot occur on our service. NSW inmates also receive one CSNSW-subsidised mobile call per week under the same policy.
Other States and Territories
Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT each regulate prison calls under their own legislation — the Corrective Services Act 2006 (Qld), the Correctional Services Act 1982 (SA), the Corrections Act 1997 (Tas) and the Corrections Management Act 2007 (ACT) — all built on the same approved-contact-list model. In every facility we service, your Engine Number goes through that facility’s own approval process before a single call is made. See our supported prisons.
Our Compliance Engineering, In One Place
- Fixed answering point. A number answers where the prison verified it answers — permanently. It cannot be diverted or redirected.
- Change means re-verification. Moving the answering point requires a new number, re-submitted through the facility’s approval process. The prison always knows where a call ends.
- No conference calling. One inmate, one verified endpoint. Three-way and conference calls are not technically possible on our service.
- Facility approval first. Every number is vetted and approved by the correctional centre before use, and we actively monitor for misuse.
Engine Number Legality FAQs
Are engine numbers legal in Australia?
Yes. An Engine Number is a standard local phone number provided by a licensed Australian telecommunications service. Its use for prison calls is governed by each state’s corrections rules, which we set out and quote above.
Are engine numbers allowed in Victorian prisons?
Victoria’s Commissioner’s Requirement 4.2.1 prohibits diverted and conference calls and requires every number to be prison-verified. An Engine Number has a fixed answering point, no conference capability, and enters through that verification process — it is engineered to satisfy each of those requirements.
What about New South Wales?
CSNSW policy (COPP 08.02, December 2025) prohibits third-party call management services because their numbers can be changed without the facility’s knowledge. Engine Numbers is a registered carriage service provider — a primary service provider — and every number has a permanently fixed answering point that can only change via a new number and fresh facility verification. Our service is compliant: a number always answers where CSNSW verified it, and every number goes through CSNSW’s own approval process.
What’s the difference between an Engine Number and a call diversion service?
A diversion service can redirect calls anywhere, at any time, without the prison’s knowledge — the exact practice corrections rules prohibit. An Engine Number has a fixed answering location that cannot change without a new number and fresh prison verification.
Does the prison know it’s an Engine Number?
The number goes through the prison’s normal contact-list approval process. Nothing about the service bypasses or conceals anything from the facility.
What if I need calls answered somewhere else later?
You sign up for a new number, and it goes back through the facility’s approval and verification process. That re-verification step is deliberate — it is what keeps the service inside the rules.
This page is general information, not legal advice. Instruments cited are current as at 10 August 2026 — always check the linked sources for the latest versions: CR 4.2.1 (Vic), COPP 08.02 (NSW), Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Regulation 2014 (NSW), Corrections Regulations 2019 (Vic).