Inmates that have money on their inmate trust accounts can purchase stamps and envelopes at the weekly commissary. If they do not have money on their books, the prison will provide indigent inmates with all the materials necessary to send out mail to their loved ones. If your inmate writes to you directly, using your address, the cost of the mailing is a 49 cent stamp. Many of our members use the Inmate Response Mail service through InmateAid. Your inmate would...

Yes, you ship directly to the facility address. When you order on Amazon, use the facility's mailing address as the shipping destination, and include your sister's full name and inmate ID number in the address field so the mailroom can route it to her correctly. There is one critical rule with Amazon book orders for inmates: you must buy new paperback books sold directly by Amazon, not used books or books sold by third-party sellers through the Amazon marketplace. Facilities require...

The most direct way is to ask him. He can get his projected release date from his case manager or unit counselor at any time, and he can pass it along to you during a call or in a letter. If you want to look it up yourself, start with the state Department of Corrections offender search for whatever state he is in. Most state DOC websites have a public inmate locator that shows the current facility and, in most cases,...

Yes, InmateAid can still help reduce your call costs even at a federal facility, just through a different mechanism than state and county jails. The federal Bureau of Prisons operates its own self-contained phone system called TruLinks. No outside phone providers are competing for BOP contracts the way there are at state and county facilities. Instead, inmates fund their TruLinks account through Western Union deposits, and they move money between telephone, commissary, and email from that single account. Calls are paid...

The trespassing charge is the easier one. Criminal trespass in Georgia is typically a misdemeanor that can often be negotiated down to community service, a fine, or probation, particularly with a competent defense attorney working the case. That charge alone is unlikely to produce serious jail time for a first offense. The theft charge is where the outcome gets determined. Georgia classifies theft by the value of what was taken. Theft under $1,500 is generally a misdemeanor, while anything above that...

Yes. Most detention facilities, including Tucumcari, accept credit and debit cards for inmate account deposits. You can typically make a deposit online through the facility's contracted money service provider, or by phone using a card. The funds go into his commissary or phone account, depending on which service you use. To make sure the money reaches the right account, you will need his full legal name, inmate ID number, and the facility name when completing the transaction. Check which payment platform...

Time in prison is unlike time anywhere else. The best way to describe it is that every day is essentially identical to the one before it. Same cell, same count, same faces, same routine. It is like being caught in a loop where weeks blur into months and months blur into years without much to distinguish one from another. That sameness is both numbing and relentless. The inmates who survive that environment best are the ones who find a way to...