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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.

Ask your question or browse previous questions in response to comments or further questions of members of the InmateAid community.

Subject: Inmate phone calls

Yes. The phone service at EVERY prison or jail is controlled by one company (there are 25 competing for the contract). They set the rates and you HAVE to use them. What InmateAid does is get a different phone number that we know will reduce the price (using their pricing model as our guide). In some cases, the local call is the cheapest, in others an out of state call is less than any number inside the same state (it's

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Subject: Prison rumors & jail scams

No, and this particular rumor follows a pattern that repeats inside federal facilities with remarkable consistency and remarkable inaccuracy. Federal parole was eliminated over 25 years ago under the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 and it is not coming back. The current political and institutional environment makes a return to federal parole even less likely than it has been in recent years. Incarceration at the federal level operates on a $7 billion annual budget, it is deeply embedded in

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Subject: Send inmate mail

Yes, absolutely. Mail is sacred in prison and/or jail and unless the offender is under a terrorism charge, all mail will flow to the inmates without an issue. If you would like to try our letter and photo service for free, send a request via email (aid@inmateaid.com) and we will send you a unique code to get the first letter to your inmate quickly

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Subject: Release questions

The 31-day figure you were given is plausible and here is why it matters legally. Interstate detainers operate under specific rules governing how long one state can hold someone on behalf of another. Under the Interstate Agreement on Detainers and related state laws, the requesting state has a limited window to come and take custody of the person once they are being held. If Virginia placed a detainer and the local jurisdiction is holding him on Virginia's behalf, Virginia

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Subject: Inmate search

Waiting for a call is not your only option. You can get information directly from the facility if you approach it the right way. Call the facility and ask to speak with your inmate's counselor. That is the person most likely to have specific information about the SHU placement, including why it happened, what the disciplinary finding was, and how long the placement is expected to last. Counselors manage the caseloads for their assigned housing units and have access

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Subject: Send inmate mail

The InmateAid photos are of fantastic quality! They are 4 x 6 glossy photos that are printed to the edge of the paper - prison approved size. It is better than what you'd get at your local pharmacy photo developer. If you would like a free trial, please email us and simply ask for a coupon. We'd be happy to give your inmate the first one on us.

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Subject: Money transfer

Lewis Prison, formally the Lewis Complex, is an Arizona Department of Corrections facility in Buckeye and there are several reliable options for getting money onto your inmate's books. The three most commonly used services are JPay, MoneyGram, and Western Union. All three are established platforms that process inmate deposits and each charges a transaction fee that varies based on the amount being sent and the payment method you use. The fees are comparable across the three services but can

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Subject: Bail & bond questions

If he does not post bail, he will have to sit until and throughout the trial. The bond is to assure his appearance. Without the money to back up the promise to appear, the prosecution doesn't trust he will on his own recognizance. 

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Subject: Visitation

yes, it is arranged by the correctional officers and coordinated via internal schedules for video visitations

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Subject: Sentencing questions

Alien smuggling is a federal offense prosecuted by the US Attorney's office, and the sentencing range varies significantly depending on the specific charges in the indictment and the circumstances surrounding the offense. The base federal statute for alien smuggling under 8 U.S.C. § 1324 carries up to five years per count for bringing undocumented individuals into the country. That number increases substantially if aggravating factors are present. If the smuggling resulted in serious bodily injury, if weapons were involved,

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