If your inmate is asking you to send money through Cash App, Venmo, or any other peer to peer payment service, it is worth pausing before you do it. Inmates cannot receive Cash App payments inside a facility. When they ask you to send money this way it is going to a third party on the outside, someone connected to them whose identity you may not know. There are a few reasons this happens. The most common is that the inmate owes...

Video visitation works differently depending on the facility. Not all prisons and jails offer it and those that do typically use a contracted service provider such as Securus, GTL, or JPay. Here is how to get started. First confirm whether your loved one's facility offers video visits at all. Check the facility's official website or call them directly. InmateAid's facility directory has contact information for over 2,500 facilities nationwide if you need help finding the right number. If video visits are available, you...

Honestly? Five days is nothing. That is not said to minimize what you are feeling right now because the anticipation is always worse than the reality. But perspective matters here. Here is the advice that will get you through it cleanly. Keep your mouth shut. Do not share your story, do not ask about anyone else's story, and do not volunteer any information about yourself or your life on the outside. Nothing good comes from talking too much in any correctional setting...

There are two ways to see your incarcerated loved one. In-person visitation and video visitation. Both require preparation and both are governed by the rules of the specific facility where your inmate is housed. In-person visitation In-person visits take place at the correctional facility itself. Before you can visit you must be on your inmate's approved visitor list. Your inmate submits your name to their case manager who initiates a background check and approval process. This can take anywhere from a few...

Setting up calls with your nephew starts with understanding how the prison phone system works and where InmateAid can help. First the basics. You cannot call your nephew directly. All calls must be initiated by the inmate from inside the facility. Your nephew needs to have money on his phone account to make any calls at all. If his account is empty, no calls can happen regardless of what service you use. InmateAid's Send Money service can help you put funds...

When your inmate wants to write back to you through InmateAid, the process starts on their end with a physical letter written by hand inside the facility. Here is how it works. When your inmate wants to write back to you through InmateAid, the process starts on their end with a physical letter written by hand inside the facility. Here is how it works. Your inmate writes a physical letter and sends it to InmateAid's processing address rather than directly to your home. Once...

Mail sent through InmateAid typically arrives at the facility within 2 to 3 business days via USPS. The postal service is remarkably reliable for facility mail and delays at that stage are uncommon. However arrival at the facility and delivery to your inmate are two different things. Once mail reaches the mailroom it is up to the mailroom officers to decide when it gets distributed to the housing units. That can add a day or two depending on the facility's schedule...

You cannot call your inmate directly. This is one of the most important things to understand about staying in contact with someone who is incarcerated. All calls must be initiated by the inmate from inside the facility. There is no number you can dial to reach them directly. The phone system in correctional facilities is outbound only for inmates. When your inmate can call depends on several factors. First they must have money on their phone account. Without funds available they cannot make...

Changing your InmateAid password works the same way as most websites. Log into your account and navigate to Account Settings. From there select Edit Account Details where you will find the option to update your password. Enter your current password, then your new password twice to confirm, and save your changes. If you have forgotten your current password and cannot log in, use the Forgot Password link on the login page. Enter the email address associated with your account and InmateAid will...

Keefe is one of the most widely used commissary and care package vendors across county jails and state correctional facilities in the United States. However the number of packages an inmate can receive per month is set by the individual facility, not by Keefe itself. Most facilities that work with Keefe allow inmates to receive up to two care packages per month. Some facilities limit it to one per month and a smaller number allow more depending on their specific policies. There...