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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 search

Your son almost certainly has an inmate number already assigned, even though he just arrived yesterday. The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction assigns identification numbers during the intake and booking process, which happens on arrival. The number may just not be showing up yet in the places you have been searching. The most reliable place to find it is the Ohio DRC offender search tool at appgateway.drc.ohio.gov/OffenderSearch. Search by his name and the results will show his inmate

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Subject: Inmateaid website questions

Only the price of a stamp.

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Subject: Inmate phone calls

Yes, per line for the county, state and ICE facilities ($19.95), and only $5.00 for a federal line (300 minutes)

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Subject: Bail & bond questions

Yes, and the decision not to let the police in that night complicated things significantly. Self-defense is a legal defense, not a shield against arrest. When police respond to a call involving a physical altercation and someone has been injured, they are going to detain the person identified as the aggressor regardless of what actually happened. Sorting out who was defending themselves and who threw the first punch is a question for the courts, not the officers on the

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Subject: Education & vocational training

Yes, they can speak with their counselor or case manager

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Subject: Inmateaid website questions

Neither, exactly, and that is what makes this different from anything else you will find online. The answers on Ask The Inmate come from someone who has been on the inside. The founder of InmateAid spent 66 months in federal prison before building this platform in April 2012. That firsthand experience is the foundation of every answer written here. Not a corrections officer's perspective, not a lawyer's carefully hedged language, not a social worker who has read about incarceration.

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Subject: Sentencing questions

if he committed a crime in that state, he will do his time in that state, that is the law. he is FORCING them to keep him locked up because of what he did, not what they did

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Subject: Inmate phone calls

No, inmates cannot receive incoming calls - they must call you

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Subject: Inmate phone calls

You have to know who the phone carrier is at the facility. You set up an "advance pay" account. IF your calls are more than $3.00 for 15 minutes, InmateAid's Discount Phone Service might be worth checking out. If we cannot save you money, we refund the transaction.

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Subject: After prison challenges & services

Yes, and starting before release is significantly better than starting from scratch on day one. Here is how to approach it from both inside and outside. From inside the jail, he should ask his case manager or counselor whether the facility has any reentry programming, job readiness workshops, or connections to workforce development organizations. Many county jails partner with local nonprofits and workforce agencies that come into the facility specifically to help inmates prepare resumes, practice interviews, and line

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