A fight on the morning of his scheduled release is going to raise red flags with staff, and the delay is a direct result of that. Juvenile facilities take incidents seriously, especially ones that happen right before a release date. The timing is what makes this particularly concerning from their perspective. A fight hours before walking out the door suggests either poor impulse control, unresolved conflict with another resident, or on some level a reluctance to leave. Staff have seen all...

You are already ahead of most people by asking the question before you go in, rather than after. That instinct will serve you well. The first thing to find is a routine. However long your sentence is, boredom is going to be one of your biggest enemies. Reading was what saved my sanity, and it is partly why InmateAid exists today. Find whatever that thing is for you, whether it is reading, writing, working out, taking education courses, or learning a...

Unfortunately, the birth of a child is not grounds for early release in the federal or state system. It is one of the most common questions families ask, and the answer is consistently no. The Bureau of Prisons and state correctional systems do not recognize the birth of a child as a qualifying event for compassionate release or any other early release mechanism. To put it in stark terms, even a woman who is incarcerated and pregnant does not get released...

This is one of the hardest places to be, and nobody can make this decision for you. That is not a dodge, it is just the truth. When multiple people in your life, people who have direct experience with him, are telling you the same thing, that is worth sitting with seriously. They are not all wrong and they are not all coming from a bad place. People who have been on the receiving end of how someone treats others are...

There are a few possible explanations here, and not all of them are about you or the relationship. The most common institutional reason is a facility lockdown. When a lockdown is called, all visits are suspended across the board, sometimes for days at a time. The inmate does not cancel individually in that situation, the facility cancels everything, and communication during a lockdown is often restricted as well, which is why you may not be hearing an explanation from him directly. The...

Halfway houses operate differently from prisons and jails, and the communication rules vary from one facility to the next. The quickest way to figure out what is allowed is to call the halfway house directly and ask to speak with a counselor. The counselor can walk you through how residents are permitted to receive calls, whether there are designated phone times, and whether your brother needs to add you to an approved contact list before any communication can happen. Some halfway...