Sixty days in county is manageable and the preparation you do now makes a real difference in how smoothly it goes. Start with the phone situation. Many Illinois county jails use phone carriers that charge over $13 per call, which adds up fast over two months. Before you go in, find out which carrier your specific jail uses and set up a prepaid account with them using the numbers of the people you call most. That way funds are ready and...

A second CDV battery charge within a year is a serious situation and the repeat nature of it is what changes the calculus most significantly. Judges take a dim view of domestic violence repeat offenses, and a second charge within twelve months tells the court that the first charge produced no behavioral change. That pattern is exactly what drives harsher sentencing decisions. The leniency that sometimes exists for a first offense is largely gone by the time someone is standing before...

Yes, visitor approvals do not transfer between state prison systems. Each state runs its own independent approval process, and being approved in California has no bearing on your eligibility to visit in Arizona. You start the application process from scratch when an inmate moves to a different state's correctional system. Arizona's visitation application process differs from California's in one notable way. The Arizona Department of Corrections charges a fee for the visitor application, which covers the cost of the background check...

Whether you need to reapply depends on where your inmate is moving from and to, and the distinction matters practically. If your inmate moves within the same state correctional system, your visitor approval generally stays valid across facilities in that system. In Mississippi specifically, if your paperwork is on file with the Mississippi Department of Corrections and your inmate transfers from one MDOC facility to another, that approval travels with them. You do not need to start the process over every...