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Ask a former inmate questions at no charge. The inmate answering has spent considerable time in the federal prison system, state and county jails, and in a prison that was run by the private prison entity CCA.

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Subject: Release questions

El CDCR no contiene una lista de las fechas de lanzamiento en su sitio web. Usted puede llamar al consejero en la planta, tienen el recluso's fecha de lanzamiento. Y, por supuesto, el recluso sabe exactamente cuando van a ser liberados

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Subject: Visitation

It depends entirely on the facility and whoever processes the form on the receiving end. Some facilities will let something like this slide, particularly if the form is otherwise complete, legitimate, and clearly not an attempt to circumvent the process. A misdirected visitor questionnaire is a minor administrative hiccup, not a security concern, and staff with common sense will sometimes just process it and move on. Others will reject it on procedural grounds regardless of the circumstances. Facilities

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Subject: Inmate phone calls

The number your inmate dials is the one InmateAid assigns to your account. It arrives in an email notification sent to your inbox about an hour after your purchase is complete. Check that email, find the assigned number, and get it to your inmate so they can add it to their approved call list at the facility. That assigned number is a forwarding number. When your inmate dials it from the facility's phone system, the call routes directly to

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Subject: Parole, probation & supervised release

Maine was the first state to abolish parole, doing so roughly 50 years ago, and remains one of 16 states without such a system today. That history makes this one of the most persistent questions families of Maine inmates ask, and the honest answer as of April 2026 is that parole has not been reinstated, and the most recent legislative effort to bring it back just failed. The latest bill to restore parole in Maine failed to gain the

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Subject: Parole, probation & supervised release

When someone is taken into custody at a probation check-in and held pending investigation, it means the authorities have enough reason to believe a violation occurred but have not yet completed the process of confirming it. That is probable cause in practice, and it is enough to hold someone while the investigation plays out. What triggered it could be a number of things. A failed drug test, a new arrest, surveillance information, something flagged in his background, or a

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Subject: Marriage in prison

The only inmates allowed to get married are ones with long sentences and good behavior. It sounds like your inmate is just starting the process. If he's eligible for a bond that means he has most probably not been sentenced

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Subject: Release questions

Personal recognizance, commonly called PR or OR release, is when a judge releases someone from custody without requiring them to post bail. Instead of paying money to secure release, the person signs a written promise to appear at all future court dates. It is essentially the court saying it trusts this person to show up without a financial incentive to do so. Whether someone qualifies for PR release depends on several factors the judge evaluates at the bail hearing,

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Subject: General prison questions-terminology

State prison anywhere is no picnic. It is not the facility, it is the inmates that are inside. Inmates have to figure out how things works, just like on the streets. Most cases there is not much to worry about, but there are predators that will try guys to see whose soft, so they can take advantage of them. It is going to be all up to him, how he interacts, how he processes and handles situations where confict is

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Subject: Sentence reduction

Yes. But all of the programs have qualifications and restrictions. Where he is incarcerated and for what type of offense will narrow down what he might be eligible for. He should definitely visit his counselor and learn from the staff what he should be doing to effectively reduce his sentence or to at least know what's available

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Subject: Relationship issues

Your inmates visitation log is covered by the privacy laws. There is no provision where this information will be disclosed without his consent.

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