The number your inmate dials is the one InmateAid assigns to your account. It arrives in an email notification sent to your inbox about an hour after your purchase is complete. Check that email, find the assigned number, and get it to your inmate so they can add it to their approved call list at the facility. That assigned number is a forwarding number. When your inmate dials it from the facility's phone system, the call routes directly to whatever number...

Maine was the first state to abolish parole, doing so roughly 50 years ago, and remains one of 16 states without such a system today. That history makes this one of the most persistent questions families of Maine inmates ask, and the honest answer as of April 2026 is that parole has not been reinstated, and the most recent legislative effort to bring it back just failed. The latest bill to restore parole in Maine failed to gain the support of...

When someone is taken into custody at a probation check-in and held pending investigation, it means the authorities have enough reason to believe a violation occurred but have not yet completed the process of confirming it. That is probable cause in practice, and it is enough to hold someone while the investigation plays out. What triggered it could be a number of things. A failed drug test, a new arrest, surveillance information, something flagged in his background, or a tip that...

Personal recognizance, commonly called PR or OR release, is when a judge releases someone from custody without requiring them to post bail. Instead of paying money to secure release, the person signs a written promise to appear at all future court dates. It is essentially the court saying it trusts this person to show up without a financial incentive to do so. Whether someone qualifies for PR release depends on several factors the judge evaluates at the bail hearing, typically held...

State prison anywhere is no picnic. It is not the facility, it is the inmates that are inside. Inmates have to figure out how things works, just like on the streets. Most cases there is not much to worry about, but there are predators that will try guys to see whose soft, so they can take advantage of them. It is going to be all up to him, how he interacts, how he processes and handles situations where confict is...

Visits are never long enough. There are never enough visits. The lower the security, the better the visits are. Minimum security visitation is in a very relaxed state and they are at least two hours long. You visit on park bench-style set up. For federal prison, this was as good as it could get. The worst goes with the higher security facilities where there is no contact and the visits last minutes, not hours. We understand why, it's just a tough...

A facility shakedown is where the inmates are sequestered in an area for hours while the guards go through the facility, cell by cell, room by room, searching for contraband. They will turn beds upside down, they go into the ceiling where there is access, they check the kitchen, bathrooms, chapel... everywhere. After they have finished, the collection of contraband is displayed in some form to show the inmates that they will eventually find everything. If they can tie anything...