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Ask a former inmate questions at no charge. The inmate answering has spent considerable time in the federal prison system, state and county jails, and in a prison that was run by the private prison entity CCA.

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Subject: Inmate phone calls

Let us know the name of the facility and your phone number - we will give you an honest estimate of the savings before you buy

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Subject: Relationship issues

This one hurts, and it deserves a straight answer rather than a reassuring one. When an inmate tells the person they love to step back, it is almost never actually about wanting distance. It is usually about pain they do not know how to manage. Someone staring down a long sentence starts doing a particular kind of math in their head. They look at the time they have left, they look at the person on the outside living a

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Subject: Inmate phone calls

You will have to let them know. We offer a free letter to notify the inmate of their new number, email us and request a coupon code.

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Subject: Send inmate mail

The best photos are the sexy ones you know he'll like. You know that they cannot show your private parts or simulated acts, make sure everything is covered so that they are not rejected.

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Subject: Inmate search

Duplicate listings across facilities are more common than you might expect, particularly when an inmate has been recently transferred and both the old and new facility records have not yet been fully updated in the database. It creates confusion but it is usually a timing issue rather than a mystery. The most reliable tool for locating current custody status is VINELink at vinelink.com. VINE stands for Victim Information and Notification Everyday, and while it was built primarily as a

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Subject: Inmate phone calls

The facility is not going to deliver that information for you. Staff are not in the business of passing phone numbers from outside parties to inmates, and while occasionally an empathetic officer will make an exception, that is not something you can count on or plan around. The reliable way to get the number to her is through mail. Send a letter or postcard to Gilpin County Detention Center with the InmateAid number written clearly inside. That piece of

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Subject: Prison discipline

Yes, both are significantly restricted the moment someone goes into the SHU, and the limitations are more severe than most families expect going in. Phone access drops to one 15-minute call per week. That is it. Whatever frequency of calls you were used to before the hole is gone, replaced by a single weekly window that has to count for everything. Make sure your number is active and you are available when that call comes because there is no

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Subject: Visitation

You might find that attitude in any walk of life. The cashier at Walmart, the nurse at your doctor's office or the deli man at the grocery could all have "a bad day". For you to think that YOU need to kiss their ass is an indictment on your attitude. WAKE UP, this isn't a hotel or restaurant. The guards are not social workers, they are paid to oversee prisoners, not patrons. YOU follow their rules without arrogance or don't

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Subject: Family services

This is not impossible - keep trying

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Subject: Inmate phone calls

On the minutes, yes, the standard plan runs 300 minutes per month. The exception comes during the holiday season. In November and December the Bureau of Prisons increases the allotment to 400 minutes to account for the higher volume of family calls during that time of year. That extra hundred minutes makes a real difference during the stretch of the year when staying connected matters most. On computers, federal facilities do have them, but they are not the open

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