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

InmateAid was built by a former federal inmate who also spent time in county and private prison facilities. The site exists to help families and loved ones support someone who is incarcerated, from the day they are arrested through their release and reentry. That is what the tagline Before, During and After means. Here is what the site offers and how it works. Personal Inmate Page. You create a profile for your inmate that serves as a central hub for everything related...

Visitation is one of the most important connections an inmate can maintain during incarceration, and most facilities recognize that by providing a structured process for approving visitors. The short answer is yes, inmates can have visitors, but it requires some preparation on the visitor's end before that first visit happens. The typical process starts with a visitation application, either submitted online through the facility's portal or completed on paper and mailed in. The application collects basic identifying information and is used...

The calculation depends on whether this is a state or federal case and what the applicable good time rules are, but here is a realistic breakdown based on what you have described. A six-month sentence with half time means the baseline expectation is serving approximately three months before release eligibility. The 17 days of work release credit you have already accumulated will come off that total, which reduces the remaining time to serve by those days from the point you turn...

Jail time for a DUI or DWI depends heavily on criminal history. A first offense may result in probation only. Property damage or injuries to others can significantly extend the sentence. Repeat offenders face escalating penalties that often include mandatory incarceration. For a first-time offender with no prior record and no aggravating factors, the outcome can be relatively lenient. Many first offenders receive probation, fines, license suspension, and mandatory alcohol education programs without serving any jail time at all. Some states...

Finding commissary pricing before deciding how much to send is a smart first step, and the availability of that information depends heavily on the type of facility your inmate is in. Federal Bureau of Prisons facilities are the most transparent. Most post their commissary lists directly on the BOP website or on the individual facility page, and InmateAid maintains commissary information as well for reference. Here is a commissary price list for FCI Allenwood. State prison systems vary considerably. Some states publish...

The good news is that there is no blanket weight restriction on mail sent to inmates. What matters is that the envelope has sufficient postage to cover whatever is inside. An underpaid envelope will be returned to the sender rather than delivered, so making sure the postage is right before dropping it in the mail is the one practical step worth taking. For 12 standard 4x6 photos, a single first-class stamp will not be enough. A reasonable estimate is that a...

Jail is not a comfortable place, and for a young man who has lived a sheltered life, the adjustment can be genuinely dangerous if he approaches it the wrong way. The most important piece of advice is also the simplest: keep to himself. Inmates, particularly those with experience inside, are often skilled at drawing people out in conversation. They are patient, friendly on the surface, and practiced at gathering information about others. Everything your son shares about himself, his charges, his...

A 24-hour hold is not a single defined status and can mean different things depending on the facility and the circumstances surrounding the individual inmate. Understanding the possibilities helps narrow down what is actually happening. The most common interpretation is an inter-jurisdictional hold. This means another county, state, or federal authority has placed a detainer on the inmate and is in the process of arranging transfer. The holding facility is essentially keeping the inmate in place while the other jurisdiction coordinates...

The concern behind this question is exactly the right instinct. Inmates who maintain strong outside connections during their sentence have measurably better outcomes, both while inside and after release. Staying engaged, staying present, and letting him know he has not been forgotten is not a small thing. It is one of the most powerful forces working in his favor. Idle time is the enemy inside. Without something to occupy the mind, the hours stretch and the environment takes over. Magazine subscriptions...

The Scottsdale Crime Laboratory scandal was a significant and well-documented failure in forensic reliability. At the center of it were blood-alcohol testing machines that were found to be producing unreliable results, compounded by administrative failures that allowed faulty equipment to remain in service longer than it should have. Among the most troubling revelations were cases where individuals had pleaded guilty to DUI charges despite blood test results that came back negative, suggesting that the legal process moved faster than the...