You do not have to wait. Send it now if you want to, and here is why. InmateAid has a standing policy that covers exactly this situation. If your inmate gets transferred and a letter, postcard, or any other item gets caught in the move and fails to reach them, InmateAid will resend or replace everything at no charge. No questions, no fees, no hassle. The only thing you need to do is let them know what happened. Send an email to...

Whether your letter follows your inmate to a new facility depends entirely on which systems are involved in the transfer. Here is how it actually works. If your inmate stays within the same system, the mail will get there. A federal inmate transferred from one federal facility to another, regardless of state, will eventually receive forwarded mail. The same applies to state systems. Mail sent to a state prison will follow an inmate to another state facility within the same department...

The process is simple. You wait in the parking lot and he comes out to you. There is no check-in process, no paperwork for you to complete, and no reason to go inside the facility. Release processing happens entirely on the inside. Staff complete the discharge paperwork, return his personal property, issue any remaining account balance, and walk him through the final administrative steps before he is released. When everything is finalized he walks out the door and you are right...

Family transport for an inmate transfer is not standard practice and has not been something commonly granted at federal camps, but the situation at minimum security camps is unique enough that it is worth asking directly. Federal prison camps house the lowest security level inmates in the Bureau of Prisons system, and that classification comes with privileges that do not exist at higher security levels. One of those is the possibility of unescorted travel for transfers. Rather than being transported in...

There are some real elements of the show that ring true. Orange has a number of outlandish characters who represent stereotypical versions of inmates audiences may think of when imagining a federal corrections institution. At first glance, Orange Is the New Black supposedly chronicles the typical journey through a female prison for a not-so-typical convict. However, a closer look at the United States federal corrections system makes it clear that InmateAid Twitter-follower and author of Orange Piper Chapman's stay in federal prison is a TV fantasy...

Commissary prices at Reception and Medical Center Lake Butler and Florida state facilities generally run about 15 to 20 percent higher than what you would pay at a standard retail store. That markup exists because the commissary is the only option available and the facility knows it. There is no competition and no alternative, so pricing reflects that reality. The product selection covers food items like ramen, chips, cookies, and canned goods, hygiene products including soap, shampoo, deodorant, and toothpaste, writing...