Subject: Release questions
Tentative date is the current "release date" of "out date" given the inmate. It is tenative and that normally means there are more calculations to be determined before they give a final. This means they anticipate it could change so YES, you might get some good news.
Subject: Visitation
Yes, once when you arrive and meet and once when you depart. Keep it clean though. The guards are usually not too strict about it, but we would not test their good nature - they would see over-doing it as disrespecting them and might block future visits. Be mindful it is a prison.
Subject: Send inmate mail
The short answer is that you should not, and involving the attorney in this creates problems that are significantly worse than the problem you are trying to solve.
Attorney-client mail is privileged, meaning it is supposed to be opened only by the inmate and is not subject to the same mailroom inspection as regular correspondence. Some people try to exploit that privilege to get items into a facility that would otherwise be rejected. Facilities are aware of this and take it...
Read moreSubject: Inmate search
There are inmate searches that are able to show the charges and their parole date (if they are eligible at all) and their release date. This date calculates the current good time credit available to the inmate. There are no reports showing how much time is they have served to date.
Subject: Prison discipline
Not necessarily, but the transfer is a signal worth reading carefully because it points in one of two directions and which one matters a great deal.
When an inmate gets into a fight, spends three weeks in the hole, and then gets transferred to a different facility, the move is almost always deliberate. Facilities do not transfer people after a fight without a reason, and there are two common ones.
The first is that he was the aggressor or a willing participant...
Read moreSubject: Arrest record search
Basically there is no limit to the phone use at Leath Correctional (a South Carolina state prison), except for the cost of the calls. If there is money on the books they can stay on the phone all day. Many do especially in the first few days of incarceration. If you are not local to Greenwood SC, the calls start costing a lot. If you get a local line from InmateAid, the calls will be about $3-4 cheaper per call.
Subject: Send inmate mail
No they do not, the recipient however pays a fee of $1.49 to retrieve the letter that the inmate sent to you, through InmateAid.
Subject: Inmate phone calls
County jail and state prison inmates can call as much as they want. As long as there is money on their books they can make calls. In federal prison, the inmates are limited to 300 minutes per month (400 per month in Nov and Dec as a holiday bonus). InmateAid can make the calls less expensive if you talk often. Plans start at $8.95 per month, no contract, no hidden fees.
Subject: Inmate transfer
There is no set time period. It is first come, first served so to speak. If there is an opening, the inmate willl get the call to "pack out".
Subject: Money transfer
His account balance is considered personal financial information and falls under the same privacy protections that cover everything else about an inmate's record. The facility is not required to share it with anyone outside, including parents, and most of the time they will not.
That said, calling the counselor is your best shot at getting any information at all, and how you approach that call matters more than most people realize. Come in as a concerned, cooperative parent who is trying...
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