Inmates do not register with InmateAid and they do not pay anything. The service exists entirely for the people on the outside who want to support someone who is incarcerated. Your inmate never needs to create an account, sign up for anything, or spend a dollar of their own money to receive what you send.
Here is how it actually works. You create the account, set up your inmate's profile with their facility information, and place your order. InmateAid's fulfillment team handles the printing and mailing on the back end. Your inmate receives a physical letter, postcard, or photo through the facility's normal mail process, handed to them by staff just like any other piece of mail. They know it came from you because your name is on it, and the InmateAid logo on the envelope is well recognized inside correctional facilities.
Your account dashboard keeps track of everything you have sent, from letters and photos to magazine orders and phone service. You can set up holiday reminders so you never miss sending something during the times of year that feel loneliest inside. Birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, those moments matter more behind the wall than most people on the outside realize.
Photos can be sent as high gloss four-by-six prints. Magazines and books give inmates something to read, and reading is one of the most effective ways to make time pass and keep the mind engaged. Whatever you can do to stay connected and keep something arriving regularly makes a genuine difference in someone's daily experience.
Everything is managed from your side. Your inmate just gets the mail.