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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: General prison questions-terminology

Inmates who are serving less than a year will usually have their application for marriage denied with the presumption being that such a short wait will not harm the prisoner or prospective spouse. Each partner must be legally eligible and mentally competent to marry. Marriages may be blocked for security or disciplinary reasons; solitary confinement can block access to marriage. Most states do not allow marriage for inmates on death row; California is at least one exception to that rule.

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Subject: General prison questions-terminology

When you set up a Discount Telephone Plan with InmateAid, we will give you a coupon code to write your inmate and let them know that there is a new number to call, and you'll explain to them how it works. We will even make the coupon good for a picture too.

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Subject: Send inmate mail

Once a letter has been submitted and moves into the automated processing queue, there is no mechanism to intercept or cancel it. The system is designed for speed and efficiency, which means letters move quickly from submission to print to dispatch. By the time a cancellation request reaches anyone, the letter has typically already been processed. What you can do is log into your InmateAid account, navigate to Letters to Inmates, and open the letter to see exactly what

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Subject: Inmate services & supplies

Most inmates have to make their own purchases within the facility commissary (you fund their inmate trust account). Depending on where, there are some places what contract with outside services to send care packages through Secur-Pak and others. Let us know the facility name and we will try and get that information for you.

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Subject: General prison questions-terminology

We do not have that information on this website.  You will have to contact the clerk of the court where your inmate's case was heard or where he was sentenced. Contact the clerk, ask to speak with the presiding judge's secretary. They will have everything you would need to know about the case, the scheduling and the outcome if there was one.

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Subject: General prison questions-terminology

That situation is frustrating, but it does happen more than it should. Running out of forms or having phones down is usually a staffing or administrative issue, not a policy. Visitation is considered important in every facility, so being “out of forms” for an extended time is not normal. Here is what you can do to move this forward: 1. Contact the facility directly Call and ask for: The visitation department The warden’s office or secretary The chaplain’s office (they

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Subject: Inmate search

Call the facility, or give us as much information as you have and we can try and locate them for you. The inmate profiles are set up by the member/users of the website. We do not monitor, verify or update the profiles unless requested by the member/user. If you would like to create an inmate profile, we would be happy to do it for you. Please send us the inmate's name, their ID number and the facility where they are

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Subject: Prison discipline

The cycle ends when they decide they have had enough of the nonsense and finally grow up. No matter how good of a mother you are, you cannot take responsibility for abhorrent behavior. they know right from wrong. Keep showing love, but don't let him walk over you or con you into supporting him. He needs to exhibit some humility, gratitude and love for himself. 

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Subject: Sentence reduction

Once a reentry program or class is completed, the credit calculation is not handled at the facility level. It goes to the Bureau of Prisons regional or central office for processing, which adds time to the timeline that many families and inmates do not anticipate. The typical range is anywhere from a couple of weeks to more than a month before the credit is officially calculated, verified, and posted to the inmate's record. In some cases it takes longer

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Subject: Send inmate mail

We estimate that it takes 2-3 business days to make it to the jail. Once there, the staff opens and reads each piece of mail and inspects it for contraband. Once they decide the mail is fit to be handed out at mail call, your inmate will receive it. Any delay that occurs at the facility is out of our control. We make no guarantees as to how long it will take as there are thousands of facilities and none

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