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

The phone service at all of the correction centers are set up through bid process. There are about 30 prison-specific phone companies that fight to get the contract for each and every prison. Whoever has the contract for all inmate outbound calling and to tape record the calls essentially has a monopoly and you have to use them to receive calls.  The choice is whether you pay them for a long distance call that can run as much as $15.00...

First, congratulations on the release. That is the best possible reason for a letter not to arrive. When an inmate is released before a letter reaches them, InmateAid cannot issue a cash refund, but we will resend the letter and photos to any address you provide at no additional charge. That means the letter your fiancé never received while inside can still reach them at home. Just contact us at aid@inmateaid.com with the new address and we will take care of...

Cimarron Correctional Facility in Cushing, Oklahoma is a privately operated prison run by CoreCivic. Like all correctional facilities, new arrivals go through an Admissions and Orientation process before phone calls and visitation become available. That orientation period typically takes one to two weeks, sometimes a little longer depending on how many new arrivals are being processed at the same time. During that window your husband will be meeting with medical staff and his unit team, and he will have the opportunity...

If you have not heard from your cousin in a long time, the first step is to confirm where he is currently housed. You can do that using the Bureau of Prisons inmate locator, which will show his facility if he is still in federal custody. Once you know the facility, your options to check on his wellbeing are limited but there are a few things you can do: Call the facility and ask for the unit team or case manager. They...

When an inmate is in segregation, their privileges are restricted, but they are not completely cut off from communication or support. Your fiancé will still be able to receive certain InmateAid services, even while in segregation: Letters and photos: You can continue sending letters and photos without any issue. Mail is still delivered to inmates in segregation, although it may take a little longer to be processed. Books and magazines: You can send approved books and magazine subscriptions. These are often allowed and can be...

Most inmates do not have access to the Internet or email, they receive letters through the US Mail. Mail call is done Monday through Friday only. Inmates that have money on their inmate trust accounts can purchase stamps and envelopes at the weekly commissary. If they do not have money on their books, the prison will provide indigent inmates with all the materials necessary to send out mail to their loved ones. If your inmate writes to you directly, using...

A halfway house, formally called a Residential Reentry Center, is the bridge between incarceration and full release. How long someone stays there and what the experience looks like depends significantly on whether the sentence was federal or state and the length of the original sentence. For federal inmates, halfway house placement is determined by the Bureau of Prisons and typically ranges from a few months to up to a year. The First Step Act expanded halfway house eligibility and many federal...

In most cases, someone who has been convicted and is in federal custody should appear in the Bureau of Prisons locator, even after release. So if they are not showing up at all, there are a few possible explanations. One possibility is that they are not actually in BOP custody yet. After a federal conviction, inmates are often held by the U.S. Marshals Service while awaiting designation to a federal prison. During that time, they will not appear in the BOP...

A detainer is just a "hold" placed on someone that is in jail. If a subject is incarcerated and has a warrant out of another jurisdiction, then a detainer is placed on that subject so he won't be released before there's a chance for extradition.A detainer is a warrant placed against an inmate for pending charges from another jurisdiction. These pending charge(s) are usually from some county, federal and/or out-of-state law enforcement agencies. A detainer warrant may also be placed...

Texas does not have a conjugal visit program. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice eliminated conjugal visits decades ago and has not reinstated them. Regardless of the sentence length or the nature of the charges, conjugal visits are not available at any Texas state prison. Texas is among the majority of states that no longer offer this type of visitation. As of 2026, only a small handful of states, including California, New York, Washington, and Connecticut, maintain any form of extended...

Two separate legal issues are running at the same time here and each one has its own path to resolution. On the child support hold, the most direct way to get that resolved is to pay the arrears or make a credible payment arrangement with the child support agency. Child support contempt is civil in nature and the hold exists specifically to compel payment. Once a payment plan is accepted or a meaningful payment is made, the agency has less motivation...

It is possible, but it requires consistent effort and a deliberate approach from day one. The most important thing your friend can do is control what information about himself he puts into circulation. Inside, information travels fast and people are always working to figure out who someone is, what they did, and who they are connected to. The less your friend volunteers about his past gang affiliation, his charges, and his history, the less material there is for anyone to use...