Subject: Sex offenders
Visitation rules for inmates convicted of sexual offenses, particularly those involving minors, are among the most carefully regulated in the correctional system and vary significantly by facility, state, and the specific nature of the conviction.
In general, adult family members who are not minors and who pass the standard background check can often still visit, including siblings, depending on the facility's policies and any specific conditions attached to the sentence or supervision order. However, contact with minors is almost universally restricted...
Read moreSubject: Arrest record search
Contact the Clerk of the Court in Cullman County. That office maintains all criminal court filings, including cases from that period, and archived records from a domestic violence arrest in 2009 or 2010 should still be on file. Court records are public in Alabama, so you do not need a special relationship to the case to request them.
When you call, give the clerk's office your ex-husband's full legal name and an approximate date range for the arrest. They can look...
Read moreSubject: Inmateaid website questions
"Letters from Inmates"... if you have mail from an inmate, we scan it and send you an email with a link to the letter. If you cannot find the email , log on to oyur account and go the the My Account dashboard and the link Letters from Inmates is where you will find them.
Subject: Bail & bond questions
Yes, it can be done remotely, though it requires a bail bond company willing to work with you by phone and accept your payment electronically or by credit card rather than in person.
Bail bond companies operate locally in the county where the arrest happened, not in your city. Start by searching for licensed bail bondsmen near the jail, not near you. Call a few and explain your situation. Most experienced bondsmen handle out-of-town family members regularly. They can walk you...
Read moreSubject: Work release
The answer is that they can and sometimes will test work release inmates everyday - before and after their shift..
Subject: Inmate phone calls
Do not wait. Switch over as soon as possible because the two services work together rather than replacing one another.
InmateAid does not replace your GTL account. Your GTL account stays open and the balance remains available. What InmateAid does is provide a different number for your inmate to dial that triggers a lower rate on the GTL system. The calls still run through GTL and still draw from your GTL balance, but at a significantly reduced per-minute cost because of...
Read moreSubject: Inmate phone calls
You may use your cell phone in most cases. The phone service is run by ONE company at any one facility. The companies that provide service win a competitive bid contract for 3-4 years. THEY are the ones that set the pricing and the rules in conjunction with the jail or prison. It used to be that you needed a land line to receive calls from the inmate. Now, with everything revolving around the smartphone, the rules have changed. BUT,...
Read moreSubject: Survive prison
This is one of the harder conversations a parent has to navigate, and how you handle it matters for your children's relationship with their father long after this period is over.
The most important rule is to keep your own hurt and anger out of the explanation you give the children. Whatever happened between you and their father is separate from who he is to them, and children who hear negative things about a parent from the other parent carry that...
Read moreSubject: Inmate phone calls
Phone call hours at most correctional facilities are fairly consistent day to day and do not change frequently without a specific reason. The schedule is set by the facility and posted for inmates, and the expectation on both ends is that it stays predictable.
That said, there are circumstances that can disrupt the normal calling window. A facility-wide lockdown triggered by an incident, a shakedown, a count that runs long, or a staffing shortage can all push phone access back or...
Read moreSubject: Relationship issues
Yes, and the approach to getting it approved is worth understanding clearly. This situation came up with my own step-children, and the way to frame the request makes a real difference.
Correctional facilities are evaluated in part by their recidivism rates, meaning how often their released inmates come back. Funding and reputation flow to facilities with low rates, so wardens and administrators have a genuine institutional interest in anything that reduces the likelihood of reoffending. Family connection is one of the...
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