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

We process thousands of letters with a VERY high rate of success. The phot feature is absolutely the most popular of all our services because so many family members promise to send inmates photos and never have the time to get them posted. We make that easy for you. It usually takes 1-2 business days to get to the facility. We are in a major postal hub and the letters travel pretty rapidly through the system. The only delay outside of...

Violating an order of protection is treated seriously by the court system, and the outcome on Wednesday depends on several factors: the specific nature of the violation, your husband's prior criminal history, and how the judge who issued the original order views what happened. The judge presiding over Wednesday's hearing is almost certainly the same one who issued the order of protection. That matters because judges who issue protective orders take violations personally. They view it as a direct challenge to...

Mandatory Supervised Release, commonly referred to as MSR, is a term used primarily in the federal system and in some state systems to describe the period of supervision that follows release from prison. The concept exists in state systems as well, but it typically goes by a different name: probation or parole. For your brother's purposes, the answer is yes, the same general principle applies. State inmates serve a supervision period after release that functions essentially the same way MSR does...

“MSR” can be confusing because it means different things depending on the system. In the federal system, the correct term is Supervised Release, not MSR. Federal inmates: Serve about 85 percent of their sentence in custody May spend the last portion of that time in a halfway house or home confinement Then begin Supervised Release, which is ordered by the judge and happens after they are fully released In this context: There is no parole in the federal system Halfway house time is part of the sentence, not early release Supervised Release begins only...

The release date listed on the Federal Bureau of Prisons website is generally accurate and reflects the inmate’s projected release date, including good time credit. For federal inmates, most serve about 85 percent of their sentence, and the date you see usually already factors that in. It may also include time expected to be spent in a halfway house or home confinement near the end of the sentence. Is it official? It is considered reliable, but it is still a projected date, not a guarantee. It can change if: The inmate...

When an inmate is written up for something like theft, the facility will hold a disciplinary hearing to decide what actually happened and what the consequences will be. These hearings can be tough, and outcomes often depend on: The evidence against him His past behavior and disciplinary record How he presents himself during the hearing If he was on a level 2 status, possible outcomes could include: Dropping him to a lower level Loss of privileges like phone, commissary, or visitation for a period of time Loss of good time credits...

There is no universal rule that applies to every facility. Each institution sets its own property limits, and those limits can vary significantly between a county jail, a state prison, and a federal facility. The general principle in most facilities is that books sent in from approved vendors belong to the inmate and can be kept in their cell. The practical limit is space. When books accumulate to the point where they are considered a fire hazard or a storage problem,...

Phone access at Lincoln Correctional Center generally follows the standard schedule common to most state facilities, with phones available during waking hours from roughly 6:00 AM to 9:30 PM. There are periodic breaks throughout the day, and access can be restricted at any time at staff discretion for reasons that are not always communicated to families. Unlike the federal system, which caps inmates at 300 minutes per month, state facilities like Lincoln often do not impose a hard monthly minute limit....

This is a common point of confusion for new members and it is easier than it looks. InmateAid is not requiring you to change your password. The Account Details page simply displays a password field as part of the standard account setup layout. You do not need to do anything with it unless you actually want to change your password at some point in the future. Once you have landed on the Account Details page, you are already in. That is...

Once a case moves from state to federal court, the tracking process changes entirely and most state court search tools will no longer show anything useful. Federal court proceedings are managed through a separate system, and public access to those records is more limited than many families expect. The federal court records system is called PACER, which stands for Public Access to Court Electronic Records. It is available at pacer.gov and contains filings, docket entries, scheduled hearings, and case documents for...

Missing calls from someone who contacts you every day without fail is unsettling, but a lockdown is the most common explanation and it has nothing to do with your fiancee personally. Lockdowns happen for a variety of reasons, including fights, contraband searches, staffing shortages, or incidents on a particular unit. During a lockdown, phone access is typically cut off for everyone regardless of individual behavior. It is one of the most common reasons families suddenly stop hearing from an inmate who...

When someone is transferred out of a halfway house, especially into federal or ICE custody, they can temporarily disappear from the standard inmate locator systems. This is one of the more frustrating situations families run into because the transfer often happens quickly and the receiving facility may not have fully processed the individual into their system yet. Here are the steps to take when a standard search comes up empty. Start with the BOP inmate locator at bop.gov. If your family member...

The silence in the first few days after someone arrives at their designated federal facility is completely normal. It does not mean anything is wrong. It means the intake process is doing exactly what it is supposed to do. When a new inmate arrives at a BOP facility, they cannot make phone calls, send emails through CorrLinks, or receive visits until they complete Admissions and Orientation, which most people inside refer to simply as A&O. This is a structured intake process...

The difference between USP, FCI, and FPC comes down to security level and custody classification within the Federal Bureau of Prisons. USP (United States Penitentiary): This is the highest security level. These facilities house inmates with more serious charges or higher risk classifications. Movement is tightly controlled and security is strict. FCI (Federal Correctional Institution): These are medium or low security prisons. They still have controlled movement, but conditions are less restrictive than a USP. Many inmates serve the bulk of their sentences here. FPC (Federal Prison Camp): This...