What his mother told you is not accurate as a general rule, and you should not take her word for it without verifying directly with the facility. Visitation policies vary by institution, but restricting visits to legally married spouses and blood relatives only is not standard practice at most prisons and jails in this country. Facilities typically allow approved visitors who pass a background check, regardless of whether they are family by blood or marriage. Being a girlfriend, a fiancée, or...

Minimum security facilities generally offer more freedom of movement than higher security levels, and Rapid City's minimum unit is consistent with that. Inmates have access to a track for walking and running, weight equipment, and organized sports and recreational activities. The atmosphere is noticeably more relaxed than what you find at medium or maximum security facilities. There is room to move, time outside, and structured programming that keeps people engaged and active. The reason minimum security works the way it does comes...

The home he is going to be living in will have to be visited and approved by the agency overseeing his probation. The home cannot have anything visible, or with a cursory search, items that might be in contravention with his release. This could include firearms, alcohol, drugs or pornography - or proximity to a school. Our advice is to speak with someone at their offices and get the rules and regulations for offender's re-entry so that you're not surprised...

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 that run tight administrative...

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 whatever number...

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 support of...

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 tip that...

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, typically held...