Ask The Inmate. Real answers from people who've been there.

The short answer is that if you have the right facility on file, it will get there. Every jail and prison in the United States is required to accept mail delivered through the United States Postal Service. That is not a policy that varies by state or county. It is a baseline that applies across the board, which is why InmateAid routes everything through USPS. Postcards, greeting cards, photos, and letters all go out the same way, and InmateAid has been...

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...

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...

Restricted housing is solitary confinement, known inside as the hole. It means he was cited for a rule violation and pulled out of general population as a disciplinary measure. The facility is not going to tell you much beyond confirming he is there, which is frustrating, but it is standard. How long it lasts depends entirely on what he did. There is no universal cap on restricted housing time. Some inmates serve a few days for minor infractions. Others spend weeks...

Contact the Clerk of the Court in Cullman County. That office maintains all criminal court filings, including cases from that period, and archived records from a domestic violence arrest in 2009 or 2010 should still be on file. Court records are public in Alabama, so you do not need a special relationship to the case to request them. When you call, give the clerk's office your ex-husband's full legal name and an approximate date range for the arrest. They can look...

Yes, it can be done remotely, though it requires a bail bond company willing to work with you by phone and accept your payment electronically or by credit card rather than in person. Bail bond companies operate locally in the county where the arrest happened, not in your city. Start by searching for licensed bail bondsmen near the jail, not near you. Call a few and explain your situation. Most experienced bondsmen handle out-of-town family members regularly. They can walk you...

The most important thing to establish right now is exactly where the case stands in the legal process, because that determines what options are actually available. If he has not yet entered a plea and the case has not gone to trial, he is entitled to a public defender at no cost if he cannot afford private counsel. What most people do not know is that the right to counsel also includes the right to an investigator paid for by the...

You can write him through InmateAid, the letters will get there in one day as we are headquartered in Palm Beach County Florida only one county away from Broward County where he is locked up. You can send him magazines or books - with his situation, he is completely walled off from contact with other inmates. I've been in soitary and it is no joke. Reading was my only escape.  There are other enlightenment opportunites down the road through college correspondence courses, but that...

Lapeer County Jail in Michigan uses Securus as its phone carrier, and the standard rate for an in-state call runs $21.34 per 15 minutes. That is one of the higher rates in the state and it adds up fast for anyone talking regularly. InmateAid's discount number brings that same 15-minute call down to $3.15, a savings of about $18 per call. Over the course of a month with regular communication that difference is substantial. Here is how it works. You keep your...