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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: Send inmate mail

The only way you will know if they received it is when they respond, 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.

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Subject: Inmate phone calls

Unfortunately, inmates may not receive calls. Inmates must initiate the call to the user with either a prepaid account or a collect call (the most expensive). If you are thinking about the best way to go about setting something up, please send us the name of the facility where your inmate is incarcerated and your telephone numbner and we will give you an honest estimate of potential savings through our service

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Subject: Parole, probation & supervised release

Parole within the first year is from a West Virginia DOC facility would be under the Accelerated Parole Program. There is no way give you optimism or pessimism whether he will be granted the release. The Accelerated Parole Program [Policy Directive 454.07](http://www.wvdoc.com/wvdoc/Portals/0/documents/454.07_2015-04-01.pdf) shall be made available to inmates serving a sentence with a parole eligibility date, except sentences of Life with Mercy and Habitual Life. However, this program shall not be available to any inmate to which one or

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Subject: Send inmate mail

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

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Subject: Work release

Work release programs vary by facility, so the most important first step is calling ahead and asking for their specific allowable items list before you arrive. Rules differ enough from one location to the next that showing up with the wrong things or missing what you need is a common and avoidable problem. That said, here is a representative sample of what most work release facilities allow. Clothing should be plain with no lettering or logos, no hooded shirts

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Subject: Inmate search

The search engine for a juvenile offender has yet to exist. Juvenile inmate identities are kept private.

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Subject: Commissary

Some places allow TVs and even , but they must be bought at the commissary. They are pricey but if you are able to help we recommend sending about $200 into the inmate's commissary account.

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Subject: Survive prison

We are not able to give you an accurate answer without having some idea of where he is and how much time did he get? There are some state facilities that do not have air conditioning. The lack of soap or menu limited to potatoes sounds pretty minimal, and not within the norm - that is for sure. We would like to think that there is a bit of exaggeration to his complaints, if they are genuine, this is a

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Subject: Commissary

There are several different companies that offer varieties of inmate care packages. Ordering will depend on where they are (allowed or not) and how much you want to spend. It is not available in all places - but all places offer commissary - the easy route is just add money to their inmate trust account.

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Subject: Inmate phone calls

Most US jails do allow international calls, but whether a specific facility has that option enabled depends on the phone service provider contracted at that jail. The majority of facilities use providers like Securus, GTL, or ICSolutions, and most of those platforms support international calling. The catch is the cost. International rates through prison phone systems are steep, often significantly higher than what you would pay through a standard international carrier. One practical way around the cost problem is

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