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

In the federal system, holiday phone minutes are handled as a temporary increase to the monthly allowance, not as separate deposits on specific dates. If your husband’s cycle resets on the 28th of each month, here is how it works: His normal allotment is 300 minutes per cycle During the November and December holiday period, that allotment increases to 400 minutes total per cycle The extra 100 minutes are included automatically in each monthly cycle that falls within that timeframe So he does not get: 100 minutes added on November 1 and December 1 Instead,...

No. Vernon C. Bain Center does not permit conjugal visits. The facility operates under the New York City Department of Corrections, and New York City jails do not have a conjugal visit program. New York State correctional facilities, meaning state prisons rather than city jails, historically had one of the longest-running conjugal visit programs in the country known as the Family Reunion Program. However, that program applies only to New York State prisons, not to New York City Department of Corrections...

If marriage is something you both want, doing it before he reports is the simpler and more reliable path. Not all prisons and jails permit inmates to marry while incarcerated, and those that do have processes that can be slow, bureaucratic, and subject to the warden's discretion. Getting married before he goes in removes all of that uncertainty. Being a legal spouse also comes with meaningful practical advantages once he is inside. Spouses typically have stronger visitation rights than unmarried partners,...

Packages to inmates at Emanuel Probation Detention Center in Twin City, Georgia must be ordered through approved channels. You cannot send a personal package from home. All items must be pre-approved food or property ordered through the Georgia Inmate Package program, which is administered by Union Supply. There are four ways to place an order: Online: Order through the Georgia Inmate Package website. Phone: Call toll-free at 1-855-247-0563. Mail: Send a completed order form to Union Supply, 2500 Regent Blvd., Dept. 421, P.O. Box...

This is one of the hardest situations a family member can face, and the honest answer is that the options are limited but not nonexistent. Here is what can realistically be done. Document everything. Write down every incident your fiance has described, with dates, names if known, and specific details. That documentation becomes the foundation for any formal complaint or legal action. Do this now, before details fade. File a complaint with the state oversight agency. Every state has a department of...

No. Inmates cannot receive incoming phone calls. The phone system inside jails and prisons is outbound only. Your inmate initiates every call from their end, and there is no way to call them directly at the facility. They also do not have access to the internet, so you cannot reach them through email or any online platform directly. If you need to notify your inmate of a new phone number, the most reliable method is a letter. Write down the new number...

It is possible but uncommon, and understanding exactly how it could happen helps put the risk in proper perspective. When a defendant appeals a sentence, the appellate court reviews whether the sentence was imposed correctly within the legal guidelines. In the vast majority of cases, an appellate court either upholds the sentence, reduces it, or sends the case back to the trial court for resentencing on a specific issue. What most people worry about is that last option. If an appellate court...

Getting to Willard Drug Treatment Campus in Willard, New York from Utica is genuinely difficult. Willard sits in a rural area of Seneca County with limited public transportation access, and no direct bus or van service from Utica appears to be currently available. A few options worth exploring: Greyhound or Trailways to a nearby city. You can take a bus from Utica toward the Finger Lakes region, with Seneca Falls or Geneva being the closest larger towns to Willard. From there you...

No. Omaha Correctional Center does not permit conjugal visits. We confirmed this directly with facility staff. This is not unique to Omaha. Conjugal visits, sometimes called extended family visits, are permitted in only a handful of states and are becoming increasingly rare. California, New York, Washington, and Connecticut are among the few states that still maintain formal conjugal visit programs, and even those programs have eligibility restrictions based on offense type, sentence length, and disciplinary record. Nebraska does not have a conjugal...

Work assignments are standard at virtually every jail and prison in the country. Inmates are expected to participate in some form of facility work as part of their daily routine, and Kitsap County Jail is no different. Whether working earns additional good time credit beyond the standard one-third reduction is a facility-specific and state-specific question. Some state systems do offer enhanced good time for certain work assignments, particularly jobs that are physically demanding, understaffed, or that most inmates prefer to avoid....

Amazon is one of the only approved methods for sending books into most prison and jail facilities, but not every book listed on Amazon qualifies. This is where a lot of people run into problems. The issue is almost always third-party sellers. Amazon's marketplace includes both items sold and shipped directly by Amazon and items listed by independent third-party sellers. When a book ships from a third-party seller rather than directly from Amazon, the facility's mail room does not consider it...

Inmates do not receive mail on weekends. Mail call at correctional facilities runs Monday through Friday only. InmateAid does process and send letters on Saturdays, so an order placed on Saturday goes into the mail that day. However, the postal system does not deliver to facilities on weekends, and facility mail rooms do not distribute incoming mail on Saturdays or Sundays. A letter mailed on Saturday will arrive at the facility on Monday at the earliest and reach your inmate at...

Most detention centers, including Avoyelles Parish Detention Center in Marksville, do not allow families to send clothing or personal items directly from outside. Inmates are typically required to purchase approved items through the facility's commissary rather than receive them from home. This policy exists to control what comes into the facility and prevent contraband from entering through packages. If there are specific items your family member needs, the commissary is the place to start. You can support that by putting money...