The main difference is the federal budget is $7 billion/year, the inmates are well fed and well cared for with a lot of programming options. In general, the guards are paid better and trained better. The state system is as different as the 50 states they are in. Some are okay and others are miserable - like no air conditioning in the hot southern summer. We would say with 100% surety that the federal penitentiaries are better for the inmate than...

Interesting question. When I went into federal prison, I was also 46 and was looking at 8 years. I'd never been locked up before and I was very depressed. The first couple of months were the hardest. To me, prison is like the movie Groundhog Day, where every day you wake up and it's the same as the day before. You have to figure out how to get into a routine so that the days will pass. My wife visited me as often as...

Visitation is almost certainly available at Catahoula Correctional Center, but rights is a word worth unpacking because visitation in the correctional system is more accurately described as a privilege that has to be applied for and approved rather than an automatic entitlement. Both you and your husband have a role in the process. On his end, he can add approved visitors through the facility's system. On your end, you need to submit a visitation application to the facility and pass a...

Generally no. Probation and incarceration are two legally distinct forms of supervision, and time spent on probation does not count as time served toward a custodial sentence. The distinction is fundamental. Time served refers specifically to time physically incarcerated, whether in a jail, prison, or in some cases a residential treatment facility that functions as a custodial placement. Probation is a community-based supervision program that allows a person to remain free, albeit under conditions and oversight. Because the person is not...