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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.

Ask your question or browse previous questions in response to comments or further questions of members of the InmateAid community.

Subject: Relationship issues

There is no way to find out. The inmate's privacy is maintained in the strictest of confidence. You cannot get a health update, find out who is visiting, who they are calling, writing or getting money from.

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Subject: Visitation

Yes. Every facility has a dress code. InmateAid lists each facility's Visitation Information which includes the Visiting days and hours for your inmate, along with the do's and don't's of that faciliites dress code.

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Subject: Prison discipline

Refusing to take a urine test in an Arizona state prison is treated as disobeying a direct order, which makes it a major violation. The classification is intentional. Without the ability to enforce orders, staff lose control of the facility, so the punishment is designed to be severe enough to discourage anyone else from trying the same thing. The first consequence is placement in Disciplinary Segregation, which goes by several names: the SHU, the Special Housing Unit, solitary confinement,

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Subject: Inmate phone calls

There is no limit. It's a privilege, not a right therefore they could restrict phone calls the entire sentence.

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Subject: Pending criminal charges

You can verify the charges yourself through the Clerk of the County Court in the county where the charges were filed. This is also where the trial would be if they take it to court,

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Subject: Emergencies - natural disasters

Inmates in hurricane areas are transported days ahead of the storm making landfall. In my case, we were in a federal camp in Miami FL when a couple hurricanes hit Dade County. They loaded all the inmates onto buses (shackled) and driven to downtown Miami where the Federal Detention Center is. This is a tall structure in the middle of all the government buildings. It is more like a skyscraper for inmates which can and did withstand several major storms

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Subject: Inmate phone calls

Yes. The Fire Camps are minimum security facilities within the CDCR, the California state prison system. The inmates are absolutely allowed to make phone calls seven days per week. These inmates actually serve the counties that they are in by fighting fires and providing selfless forestry safety. They are trusted to be in the public domain while serving their sentence. Their model behavior is awarded by receiving all the privileges afforded inmates. The phone service is Global*Tel Link-Offender Connect. The calls

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Subject: Prison discipline

Restricted housing is solitary confinement, known inside as the hole. It means he was cited for a rule violation and pulled out of general population as a disciplinary measure. The facility is not going to tell you much beyond confirming he is there, which is frustrating, but it is standard. How long it lasts depends entirely on what he did. There is no universal cap on restricted housing time. Some inmates serve a few days for minor infractions. Others

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Subject: Inmateaid website questions

Log onto your Account Dashboard. Under services, there are several selections. Click on Letters to Inmates. To access letters you have written and sent and kept in draft are available there for your review. You may download them into a pdf file with a click, too.

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Subject: Survive prison

Inmates are not permitted access to text messaging through any authorized channel, so if you are receiving texts from your friend inside, it is almost certainly coming from a contraband smartphone that was smuggled into the facility. The contraband phone problem is significant and widespread across correctional facilities nationwide. Smartphones get smuggled in through visits, through corrupt staff, through food deliveries, and through creative methods that facilities work constantly to shut down. Once inside, they circulate and get used

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