Active warrants complicate a release timeline significantly and without knowing the full details of what the warrants are for and which jurisdictions issued them it is impossible to give a realistic estimate of when someone will actually be free. Here is how warrants interact with release. When an inmate is approaching their release date the facility runs a check for any outstanding warrants or detainers. If warrants exist from other jurisdictions those agencies are notified and given the opportunity to place...

No. Being on the approved visitation list is a requirement at Oklahoma Department of Corrections facilities, regardless of the day. Holidays do not create an exception to that rule. If your name has not been submitted, approved, and cleared through the facility's background check process, you will not be allowed in. The approved visitor list exists for security reasons and applies consistently. Some facilities are even more restrictive around holidays due to higher visitor volume and tighter staffing. Showing up without...

This is a common version of a prison rumor that gets passed around and the actual Oregon law is more nuanced than what the rumor suggests. Oregon law does not specifically require parolees to return to the exact location where their offense occurred. What Oregon does require is that parolees remain in the state of Oregon after release unless they receive written permission to leave from the Department of Corrections or the county community corrections agency overseeing their supervision. Leaving the...

The cost is closer than most people expect. When you send mail yourself, the expense includes the stamp, envelope, paper, and any printing costs for photos. By the time you add up supplies, the per-letter cost is not dramatically lower than what a service charges, and that math does not account for your time in assembling, printing, and mailing everything. The real reason people use InmateAid when they could just as easily send mail themselves is privacy. When you send a...

Happiness is not a switch that flips on release day. It is something that gets rebuilt piece by piece, and it looks different than it did before. The expectation that everything immediately returns to normal is one of the most common and painful traps people fall into after release. It does not work that way, for the person coming home or for the people who waited. What does work is focusing on the things you can control. A routine, a purpose,...

The money you put on your account covers the letters you send to him, not the other way around. For him to write back, all he needs is a postage stamp on his end. He writes a physical letter, addresses it to InmateAid's office in Florida, and mails it the old-fashioned way. That stamp is the only cost on his side. When his letter arrives at InmateAid's office, it gets scanned and posted to your account dashboard. You retrieve it for...