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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: General prison questions-terminology

Yes prohibited by law, but that being said, cigarettes are easily attainable in Ohio state prisons for anywhere from $2-10 each

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Subject: Work release

they have to be on the last 1/3 of their sentence and have a clean disciplinary history

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Subject: Release questions

The odds are reasonable if everything lines up the right way, but mandatory minimum sentences come with specific constraints worth understanding before getting too optimistic. The term mandatory minimum means the law requires a floor on how much time must be served before any release is possible. On a 24-month mandatory minimum, that floor is the full two years in most jurisdictions, meaning parole consideration does not typically begin until that minimum is satisfied. Unlike discretionary sentences where good

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Subject: Send books and magazines

Both are genuinely good choices and serve different purposes. A health and fitness magazine gives your family member something practical and motivating. Exercise is one of the few things inside that an inmate has real control over, and a fitness publication can fuel that routine with new workouts, nutritional information, and a focus on physical discipline. It also reinforces a healthy mindset during a period when it is easy to let things slide. A business magazine like Forbes

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Subject: Release questions

If eligible, Class 1 earns 30 days of good time credit per month. Class 2 earns 20 days credit per month; Class 3 earns 10 days credit per month; and Class 4 does not earn any good time. All inmates are placed in Class 2 status when they arrive

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Subject: Survive prison

Your instincts are already pointed in the right direction. The middle ground between too friendly and too hard is exactly where you want to land, and your background actually gives you an advantage in finding it. With a one to two year sentence you are most likely looking at a lower custody facility, possibly a camp or a low-security women's institution. The population at that level is generally not looking to create serious problems. Most women in that environment

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Subject: Inmateaid website questions

Inmates do not register with InmateAid and they do not pay anything. The service exists entirely for the people on the outside who want to support someone who is incarcerated. Your inmate never needs to create an account, sign up for anything, or spend a dollar of their own money to receive what you send. Here is how it actually works. You create the account, set up your inmate's profile with their facility information, and place your order. InmateAid's

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Subject: Inmate phone calls

Depends on how the account is set up. If you set up a "one-number only" Service like InmateAid, only the calls you pay for will come to you. 

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Subject: Inmateaid website questions

The Letters from Inmates Service are only $1.89 per mail piece. The inmate is using the InmateAID physical address to receive the mail. We then scan the contents into a file that you access in your My Account Dashboard. A lot of our best customers like having the privacy of their home address for safety reasons. Addresses get in the hands of other inmates and this Service removes that potential problem.

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Subject: Sentencing questions

This is going to depend on the number of people affected by the crime, the amount of money "lost" from the actions of the defendant and their criminal history are all mitigating factors in the sentence determination. It could be years frankly.

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