Ask The Inmate. Real answers from people who've been there.

No. Good time credit is applied equally to all federal inmates regardless of the offense they were convicted of. Every inmate receives the same 15% good time credit from the day they are incarcerated. What happens to that credit after that is entirely up to the inmate. The only way good time gets reduced or eliminated is through the inmate's own behavior. Incident reports, disciplinary infractions, and rule violations are what put good time at risk. An inmate who follows the...

Unfortunately, no, and Alderson followed the rules correctly when they returned it. Federal prisons do not accept packages from outside vendors or individuals, regardless of whether the item is sealed, commercially produced, or clearly benign. The Bureau of Prisons has strict rules about what can come in from the outside, and a photo album shipped directly to the facility falls outside those rules no matter how thoughtful the intention behind it. The workaround is simple and it actually works out well. Put...

It is every inmate's right to ask for clemency. If you have a drug offense and are in the federal BOP, Obama was giving out clemency tickets by the hundreds. There have been zero for sex offenders. The states also offer a way to apply to their governor for clemency. These are long, long shots for success. Long sentenced drug criminals have had a lot of attention from the Obama Administration - he has pardoned or granted clemency to more...

There are a few ways to track down a release date, but the situation you are describing raises a question worth sitting with first. Most state and federal prison systems have an inmate locator on their department of corrections website that displays basic information including projected release dates. That is your fastest starting point. Search the DOC website for whatever state he is in, plug in his name or inmate number, and see what comes up. Many of those systems display...

Yes, being incarcerated does not strip someone of the legal right to file for divorce. It complicates the process but it does not make it impossible. The facility itself is not going to help him pursue a divorce. If he asks, the standard advice from jail staff will be to wait until he is released and handle it then. That is the path of least resistance for everyone involved except him. If waiting is not an option, he needs to file a...

Yes, finishing reception and transferring to a mainline facility is a meaningful step up in terms of daily life and available privileges. Reception centers like Kern are processing facilities. Their purpose is intake, evaluation, and classification, not long-term housing. The environment is restrictive by design because the facility is managing a constantly rotating population of newly arrived inmates who have not yet been assessed. Phone access, movement, programming, and privileges are all limited during that period. Folsom is a mainline facility, which...