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

The quality and availability of educational programs, job training, and mental health services within the prison system vary significantly depending on factors such as the type of facility, location, funding, and institutional priorities. Here’s an in-depth look at each of these services and their effectiveness across the prison system: 1. Educational Programs: Availability: Basic Education: Most prisons offer basic educational programs, such as GED (General Education Development) preparation and adult basic education, aiming to help inmates who lack a high school diploma. High School...

The confusing active and inactive status you are seeing is almost certainly a reflection of where your person is in the intake process rather than any error or problem with the account itself. When someone first arrives at a facility they go through an orientation and intake review period before they are fully processed into the system. During that window their information exists in the database but their account is not yet fully activated for services like phone calls and commissary....

The Resolve to Stop the Violence Project, known as RSVP, is a rehabilitation program that operates within certain California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation facilities. It is a highly regarded intensive program focused on transforming violent behavior through a combination of restorative justice practices, cognitive behavioral work, and community building among participants. The program is facility specific, meaning it is not available everywhere and an inmate has to be housed at or transferred to a facility that runs RSVP to participate....

Yes, it is standard practice for a state department of corrections to place all facilities on lockdown when an escape occurs, not just the facility the person escaped from. The reasoning is straightforward. Until authorities know exactly how the escape happened, whether anyone on the inside helped facilitate it, and whether there are any broader security vulnerabilities, the safest posture is to lock everything down system wide while the investigation and manhunt run simultaneously. A system wide lockdown means normal operations...

Active warrants complicate a release timeline significantly and without knowing the full details of what the warrants are for and which jurisdictions issued them it is impossible to give a realistic estimate of when someone will actually be free. Here is how warrants interact with release. When an inmate is approaching their release date the facility runs a check for any outstanding warrants or detainers. If warrants exist from other jurisdictions those agencies are notified and given the opportunity to place...

No. Being on the approved visitation list is a requirement at Oklahoma Department of Corrections facilities, regardless of the day. Holidays do not create an exception to that rule. If your name has not been submitted, approved, and cleared through the facility's background check process, you will not be allowed in. The approved visitor list exists for security reasons and applies consistently. Some facilities are even more restrictive around holidays due to higher visitor volume and tighter staffing. Showing up without...

This is a common version of a prison rumor that gets passed around and the actual Oregon law is more nuanced than what the rumor suggests. Oregon law does not specifically require parolees to return to the exact location where their offense occurred. What Oregon does require is that parolees remain in the state of Oregon after release unless they receive written permission to leave from the Department of Corrections or the county community corrections agency overseeing their supervision. Leaving the...