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

No. Electronic devices cannot be sent into any correctional facility from outside. It does not matter what type of device it is or how it is packaged. Anything electronic coming from an outside source will be rejected at the mailroom or confiscated. What many facilities do allow is for inmates to purchase approved electronics through the commissary. Depending on the facility, this might include simple MP3 players, radios, or other approved audio devices that have been vetted by the institution. The...

Sixty days from November 1 puts him at December 31. New Year's Eve. Start planning now. Sixty days moves faster than it feels like it will, and having things in place before he walks out makes a real difference. Housing, a form of ID, a little money, and a plan for the first few days are the basics that matter most. California will give him some gate money and a bus ticket, but the rest is on you both to prepare. December...

A ten year do five sentence means the judge has already determined that five years is the minimum time that must be served before parole eligibility kicks in. With a transfer date of January 21, 2016, that puts his earliest possible parole consideration around January 2021 under a strict reading of the sentence, not May 2017. That said, the actual timing of a parole hearing is not set by a formula alone. The Department of Corrections, facility supervisors, and the Parole...

VineLink is useful for tracking an inmate's location and custody status, but it does not display charges. For that you need to go directly to the source. The Clerk of the Court in the jurisdiction where the charges were filed is where all case information lives. In Fayette County that means the Fayette County District Clerk's office in La Grange. They maintain the complete case file including charging documents, court filings, trial transcripts, and any other official records associated with the...

The short answer is a qualified maybe (and that is a long shot). When a defendent accepts a plea, part of the agreement they sign is they are "waiving their right to an appeal". So on it's face, there can be no appeal - which is the only way to get the sentence changed. When the plea is presented, the prosecutor's offer is not always accepted by the judge. If you take a plea, you are at the mercy of the...

RDAP stands for the Residential Drug Abuse Program. It is a federal Bureau of Prisons program, meaning it exists specifically within the federal prison system and is not available at state facilities under that name or with those exact benefits. For federal inmates, RDAP is one of the most valuable programs available. Completing it can take up to 12 months off a sentence and guarantees six months of halfway house placement on the back end. That combination makes a significant difference...

What his mother told you is not accurate as a general rule, and you should not take her word for it without verifying directly with the facility. Visitation policies vary by institution, but restricting visits to legally married spouses and blood relatives only is not standard practice at most prisons and jails in this country. Facilities typically allow approved visitors who pass a background check, regardless of whether they are family by blood or marriage. Being a girlfriend, a fiancée, or...

Minimum security facilities generally offer more freedom of movement than higher security levels, and Rapid City's minimum unit is consistent with that. Inmates have access to a track for walking and running, weight equipment, and organized sports and recreational activities. The atmosphere is noticeably more relaxed than what you find at medium or maximum security facilities. There is room to move, time outside, and structured programming that keeps people engaged and active. The reason minimum security works the way it does comes...

The home he is going to be living in will have to be visited and approved by the agency overseeing his probation. The home cannot have anything visible, or with a cursory search, items that might be in contravention with his release. This could include firearms, alcohol, drugs or pornography - or proximity to a school. Our advice is to speak with someone at their offices and get the rules and regulations for offender's re-entry so that you're not surprised...

It depends entirely on the facility and whoever processes the form on the receiving end. Some facilities will let something like this slide, particularly if the form is otherwise complete, legitimate, and clearly not an attempt to circumvent the process. A misdirected visitor questionnaire is a minor administrative hiccup, not a security concern, and staff with common sense will sometimes just process it and move on. Others will reject it on procedural grounds regardless of the circumstances. Facilities that run tight administrative...

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...