Subject: Send inmate mail
The only way you will know if they received it is when they respond back to you, thanking you for remembering them, unless the letter is returned to us. In that event we will investigate the reason and notify you of your options. It's rare but sometimes the facility is wrong or the inmate ID is missing. These are all correctable and we do so at no charge.
Subject: Send inmate mail
Inmates can write with or without money on their books. Inmates with no money can get writing supplies and stamps that are provided by the institution as indigence funding.
Subject: Prison rumors & jail scams
Scams happen to new inmates by predator inmates.
Most of these scams are hard to tell unless you are forewarned. Many savvy people, even wealthy businessmen get fleeced inside prison simply trying to fit in.
Predators are not easily spotted but they know how to spot you by finding out what your weaknesses are. Most every "new" inmate's weakness is thinking that their appeal will get them out early, or that there is something that cuts their sentence. The inmates whom have been around...
Read moreSubject: Inmate phone calls
No, unfortunately all of the prison/jail phone carriers have gone to monopolistic systems sharing revenue with the facilities.
Subject: General prison questions-terminology
No. An inmate's records, whether disciplinary write-ups, medical files, or general institutional paperwork, are protected by the same privacy standards that apply to any person's records outside of prison. They are not public information and are not available to family members, regardless of the relationship.
The only person who can authorize access to those records is the inmate himself. If your fiancé wants you to have information from his file, he can request copies of his own records through the facility...
Read moreSubject: Release questions
A parole board changing release dates multiple times is frustrating but not uncommon, and it usually reflects one of a few things happening on the back end.
The most common reason is that the inmate's program or treatment placement has changed. Your son's situation illustrates this directly. When a sentence is modified from a therapeutic addiction program to long-term parole board supervision, the entire release calculation changes. A therapeutic program has a defined completion timeline. Long-term parole board jurisdiction means the...
Read moreSubject: Sentencing questions
The TDCJ sentence of four years will be 85% of 48 months. The total time to service with ZERO incident reports would be 40.8 months. If he serves 8 months in county, he will have 32.8 months remaining at his TDCJ facility
Subject: Send books and magazines
[Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/b/ref=as_sl_pc_tf_lc?node=283155&tag=inmatecom-20&camp=15329&creative=394453&linkCode=ur1&adid=1K72TCDN6922Z9EZX1M8&&ref-refURL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.inmateaid.com%2Fpages%2Fdetails%2Fsend-books-to-an-inmate-in-prison-or-jail) is one of the only approved ways to send an inmate a book. You have to enter the inmate's name, ID number and the correct address of the facility. You have to buy "new paperback books", the used books are sold by third party affiliates and those books will get rejected. There are no other tricks to it, other than staying away from the other book sellers on the Amazon site that sell used books.
Subject: Send inmate mail
InmateAid does not list juvenile inmates for pen pal connections. The site's services are focused on adult incarcerated individuals, and listing minors in any kind of public-facing pen pal capacity raises serious child safety concerns that make it something no reputable platform should facilitate.
If you are genuinely interested in supporting young people in the juvenile justice system, the right path is through established organizations that have proper vetting processes in place. Programs like the National Juvenile Justice Network or local...
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