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

Maximum security is the grade of high security level used by prison systems in various states and counties.  In a maximum security prison or area, all prisoners have individual cells with sliding doors controlled from a secure remote control station. Often prisoners are confined in their cells 23 hours per day, but in some institutions, prisoners are allowed out of their cells for part of the day (recreation, education or medical). General population areas are limited with timed movements and escorts. Maximum...

Both phone access and visitation get significantly restricted when someone is placed in segregation, but the specifics depend on why they are there. On the phone side, inmates in seg are typically limited to one 15-minute call per week. That is the standard across most federal and state facilities and it applies whether the placement is administrative or disciplinary in nature. However, if the reason for the segregation placement is a disciplinary infraction and a phone restriction was issued as part...

It's not fair, but prison is not there for fairness, it is there for the housing of inmates until their sentence is served under rules that we on the outside can't imagine.  Visitation is considered a privilege, not a right - and when they take it away it is usually for some sort of egregious act from a group of inmates. The rules that are imposed are not to punish the visitors, they are there to keep the order and control the acts...

Child sex offenders sit at the absolute bottom of the prison social hierarchy and have for as long as anyone who has done time can remember. The term used inside is cho-mo and it is not a neutral label. Inmates convicted of offenses against children are considered to have violated something so fundamental that the normal codes of conduct that govern conflict inside do not apply to them the way they do to everyone else. The reason this particular offense generates...

Yes. Maximum security designation refers to the custody level of the facility or the inmate's classification within it, not a restriction on mail access. Inmates in maximum security facilities retain the right to send and receive mail, and that right is protected under the First Amendment regardless of the severity of the crime they were convicted of or are being held for. What changes at maximum security is the scrutiny applied to incoming mail rather than access to it. Every piece...

Title: Can You Email David Sweat Through InmateAid? (44 chars) Snippet Answer: (47 words / 284 chars) Yes. The InmateAid profile for David Sweat is correct and current. He is incarcerated at NY DOC Mid State Correctional Facility in Marcy, New York. If the release date on the record caused confusion, disregard it. All InmateAid services for this inmate are active and properly synced. Expanded Answer: David Sweat became one of the most widely covered escape cases in recent American correctional history...

When Securus is the company with the contract for all inmate outbound calling and to tape record the calls, you have to look carefully at the per-call price because they are doing things differently than the other prison phone carriers..  Securus has a rate calculator on their site and we use it to get you the BEST number for inmate calling - and now the local number isn't always your best option.  Regardless, you have to use them to receive calls. The choice...

Fights happen in prison the same way they happen anywhere people are confined together under stress with limited options and no ability to simply walk away. They are a reality of the environment but they are far from inevitable for someone who understands how to navigate the social dynamics inside. The frequency and severity of fighting depend heavily on the security level of the facility. Higher security prisons house people with longer sentences, more serious offenses, and in many cases histories...

It depends entirely on the state and the facility, but yes, some systems have moved to free calls for inmates. New York and Pennsylvania are two of the most notable examples. The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision eliminated charges for calls made from state prisons, making them free for both the inmate and the person receiving the call. Pennsylvania's DOC followed a similar path. These policy shifts were driven by years of advocacy around the financial burden...