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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: General prison questions-terminology

Disposed is one of those legal shorthand terms that appears on court documents and criminal records without much explanation, leaving families confused about what actually happened to a case. In general terms disposed means the case has been concluded or resolved in some way. The court action against the defendant has ended. However disposed by itself does not tell you how it ended and that distinction matters enormously. A case can be disposed of in several ways. The

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Subject: After prison challenges & services

After a second DUI, it is very likely your fiancé will be released under strict conditions, and drinking alcohol will almost certainly be prohibited. In most cases, a short jail sentence like 4 months is followed by probation or supervised release, and those terms usually include: No alcohol use at all Random breathalyzer or drug testing Required substance abuse evaluation or treatment Possible counseling or DUI education programs If he drinks and gets caught, even once, the

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Subject: Inmate phone calls

Inmate debit calling works like any prepaid phone program. You fund an account through the facility's contracted phone carrier and your inmate uses that balance to make outgoing calls to approved numbers. As long as the account has funds and the number they are calling is on their approved list the calls go through. Number approval timeline How long it takes for a new number to be approved varies significantly by facility and phone carrier. In the best

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Subject: Send inmate mail

There are several reasons mail does not reach an inmate and not all of them are benign. Here is an honest breakdown of what can happen between the moment you send a letter and the moment it should arrive at mail call. Content issues Every piece of incoming mail is opened and inspected by mailroom staff for contraband. If something in the letter violates facility rules the mail is typically marked returned to sender and sent back to

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Subject: Send inmate mail

You can usually send blank paper to an inmate without any problems. Standard white printer paper is widely accepted and a good option if he wants to draw or write. A sketchbook is different. Many facilities treat bound items more strictly, so it may require prior approval before it is allowed in. Some prisons only accept books from approved vendors and may limit the type of binding, size, or content. If you send one without checking, there is a chance it could be

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Subject: Survive prison

Prison is not exactly like what you see on TV. Those shows tend to focus on the worst situations because that is what gets attention, but daily life inside is usually more routine and structured than what is portrayed. The reality depends on several factors: The type of facility, state or federal The custody level, from minimum to maximum The nature of the offense and sentence length Some environments are more intense, while others, especially

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Subject: Inmate search

If you do not know your inmate's release date you can still complete the profile update. Simply enter a placeholder date such as 00-00-0000 in the release date field to move past the requirement. You can update it with the correct date later once you have that information. How to find the actual release date For federal inmates the Bureau of Prisons publishes projected release dates in their free online locator at bop.gov/inmateloc. Search by your inmate's name

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Subject: Visitation

If you are traveling from out of state, many facilities in Tennessee will consider granting a special visit or extended visitation time, but it is not automatic. Your boyfriend will need to request this in advance by submitting a special visit request through: His counselor Unit team Or the staff member who handles visitation approvals These requests are often approved for long-distance visitors, especially when travel is significant, but they are usually limited and not granted frequently.

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Subject: Inmate phone calls

With discount phone services like InmateAid, your inmate will not automatically be notified when you set up or fund the service. That is because the system works by giving you a new local phone number, not by directly adding money to his existing account. Here is how it works: You are assigned a new local number that is tied to your account You must send that number to your inmate so he knows what to dial He will call that number instead

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Subject: Send books and magazines

[Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=as_sl_pc_tf_lc?node=283155&tag=inmatecom-20&camp=15329&creative=394453&linkCode=ur1&adid=1NK4T3Z8XDKYJ0S12D53&&ref-refURL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.inmateaid.com%2Fpages%2Fdetails%2Fsend-books-to-an-inmate-in-prison-or-jail) is one of the only companies that may deliver books to inmates. You have to enter the inmate's name, ID number and the correct address of the facility. You have to buy "new paperback books", the used books are sold by third party affiliates and those books will get rejected. There are no other tricks to it, other than staying away from the other book sellers on the Amazon site that sell used books.

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